THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


^    'Vj\   *j  i-  -'4  .;•     '^  *'-^e^i 


MALCOLM    MACCOLL 


-J',,-  ,9ti^v-!t  i^t    M-J^.-m^-.-'- 


iK^^i^M^  l^xMl 


MALCOLM    MACCOLL 


MEMOIRS    AND    CORRESPONDENCE 


EDITED   BY 
THE  RIGHT  HON. 

GEORGE   W.  E.  RUSSELL 


The  greatest  trust  between  man  and  man  is  the  trust  of 
giving  counsel. — Bacon. 


WITH    A   PORTRAIT 


NEW    YORK 
E.    P.    BUTTON    AND    COMPANY 

681    FIFTH   AVENUE 
I914 


6R 


NOTE 

The  task  of  writing  this  book  was  undertaken  at  Mrs. 
MacColl's  request  ;  and  it  has  been  a  pleasure  to  me  thus 
to  place  on  record  the  character  and  work  of  an  old  and 
valued  friend.  For  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life  Canon 
MacCoU  honoured  me  with  a  share  of  his  regard,  and  in 
all  the  principal  controversies  of  that  eventful  time  he 
and  I  found  ourselves  on  the  same  side. 

My  cordial  thanks  are  due  to  all  those  who  have  been 
kind  enough  to  supply  me  with  material,  and  more  especially 
to  Lord  Sahsbury,  Lord  Bath,  Mr.  Gladstone's  Trustees, 
and  the  Literary  Executors  of  Cardinal  Newman  and 
Mr.  R.  H.  Hutton. 

G.  W.  E.  R. 

March  14,  1914. 


CONTENTS 


Note       .... 

V 

I. 

Beginnings 

1 

II. 

Transition 

17 

III. 

Gladstonianism 

22 

IV. 

Ecclesiastica  . 

35 

V. 

The  Eastern  Question  . 

45  .— - 

VI. 

Some  Fruits  of  Victory 

71 

VII. 

The  Irish  Question 

, 

113 

VIII. 

Armenia 

139        1^ 
215      '^ 

IX. 

The  End  of  Controversy 

X. 

Friendship  and  Home     . 

233 

XI. 

Correspondence 

244 

XII. 

L'Envoi 

Index      .... 

390 
.     399 

\l:    /      K'     >,       " 


*  7  A,*A 


MALCOLM    MACCOLL 


CHAPTER    I 

BEGINNINGS 

I  am  a  member  of  the  suffering  and  Ejiiscopal  Church  of  Scotland — the 
shadow  of  a  shade  now,  and  f ortmiately  so — but  I  love  to  pray  where  my  fathers 
prayed  before  me. — Sm  Walter  Scott. 

Malcolm  MacColl  was  born  at  Glenfinnan,  in  the  county 
of  Inverness,  on  March  27,  1831.  His  father  was  John 
MacColl,  and,  according  to  a  tradition  preserved  in  the 
family,  he  was  descended  from  a  Jacobite  who  lost  his  life 
and  his  property  for  his  loyalty  to  the  young  Pretender. 
John  MacColl  married  Martha,  daughter  of  Malcolm  Macrae, 
of  Letterfearn  in  Kintail,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Malcolm 
Macrae,  who  was  Constable  of  Ellandona  Castle  about  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century.  '  The  Macraes,  who 
were  retainers  of  the  Earl  of  Seaforth,  were  a  small  but  war- 
Uke  clan,  who  added  to  their  fighting  qualities  a  capacity  for 
learning  which  greatly  increased  their  importance  in  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  history  of  their  native  county  of  Ross.' 

John  and  Martha  MacColl  had,  besides  two  daughters, 
four  sons,  of  whom  Malcolm,  or  '  Callum,'  as  he  was  called  in 
the  family,  was  the  third.  All  were  able  men,  and,  in  spite  of 
disadvantageous  beginnings,  attained  to  creditable  positions 
at  home  or  in  the  colonies  ;  but  it  is  only  with  Malcolm 
that  we  are  here  concerned.  John  MacColl  was  a  tenant- 
farmer,  but  sufficiently  well  educated  to  teach  his  four 
boys  elementary  I^atin,  Greek,  and  mathematics.     He  died 


2  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

when  the  eldest  was  only  fourteen,  and  the  care  of  the 
family  devolved  on  the  mother,  a  stern,  brave,  and  reUgious 
woman,  who  spoke  only  Gaelic.  John  MacColl,  like  his 
fathers  before  him,  belonged  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  in 
which  his  children  were  baptized  and  educated ;  but 
Mrs.  MacColl  had  been  brought  up  a  Presbyterian, 
and,  though  she  joined  the  Episcopal  Church  on  her 
marriage,  she  '  retained  to  the  end  her  belief  in  the 
Calvinists'  doctrine  of  Predestination,  and  held  rather 
extreme  Presbyterian  views  about  the  observance  of  the 
Sabbath.'  From  Glenfinnan  Mrs.  MacColl  moved  with 
her  children  to  the  little  fishing-port  of  Kintail,  where  the 
children  learned  to  speak  English,  and  from  Kintail  to 
Ballachulish.  There  Malcolm  MacColl  acquitted  himself 
so  well  at  school  that  he  attracted  the  favourable  regard  of 
a  wealthy  lady,  who  sent  him  to  a  seminary  at  Dalkeith 
where  schoolmasters  were  trained.  Having  qualified  at 
Dalkeith,  he  taught  successively  at  Callander,  Stonehaven, 
and  Perth.  At  Callander  he  was  permitted  by  the  Bishop 
to  act  as  lay-reader  at  a  mission-chapel  ;  and  at  Perth  the 
Provost  of  the  Cathedral,  E.  B.  K.  Fortescue,  recognizing 
his  abilities  and  vocation,  encouraged  him  to  enter  Trinity 
College,  Glenalmond,  as  a  student  in  the  Divinity  Depart- 
ment.^ '  He  walked  from  Perth  to  Glenalmond,  conning  his 
Greek  Testament  as  he  rested  on  the  milestones  by  the 
way.'  After  a  preliminary  examination,  and  a  further 
period  of  study  at  home,  he  was  admitted  to  '  the  Senior 
Department '  on  September  14,  1854,  and  obtained  the 
assistance  of  a  '  Houblon  Exhibition,'  given  for  knowledge 
of  Gaelic.  The  first  Warden  of  Glenalmond  was  Charles 
Wordsworth,  who  became  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  in 
1852.  He  was  succeeded  in  1854  by  John  Hannah,  after- 
wards Vicar  of  Brighton  and  Archdeacon  of  Chichester. 
Among  the  tutors  were  George  Forrest  Browne,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Bristol ;  William  Bright,  afterwards  Regius 
Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  at  Oxford  ;    and  Alfred 

'  Trinity  College,  Glenalmond,  was  designed  to  serve  both  as  a  Public 
School  and  as  a  Theological  Seminary.  Mr.  Gladstone  and  his  friend 
J.  R.  Hope-Scott  were  its  principal  founders.    It  was  opened  in  September  1847. 


BEGINNINGS  3 

Barry,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Sydney.  To  these  distin- 
guished men  and  their  colleagues  MacColl  always  expressed 
lifelong  obligation.  A  note  in  the  College  Register  illustrates 
his  line  of  study,  by  enumerating  the  following  books  : 
the  Greek  Testament,  with  Burton's  notes  ;  Mant's  '  Com- 
mentary on  the  Bible  ' ;  Eusebius  ;  Hooker  ;  Pearson  on 
the  Creed  ;  Wheatly  on  the  Common  Prayer  ;  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles,  in  Latin  and  English,  with  Welchman's  notes  ; 
Wordsworth's  '  Theophilus  Anglicanus  ' ;  Bates's  Lectures 
on  Church  History  ;  Russell's  '  History  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  ' ;  Whewell's  '  Moral  Philosophy  ' ;  and  Trench's 
'  Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament.' 

MacColl's  personal  characteristics  seem  to  have  made  a 
vivid  impression  upon  his  contemporaries,  from  whose  recol- 
lections it  is  quite  easy  to  construct  his  portrait.  Physically, 
he  was  much  below  the  middle  size,  but  Avell  formed,  with  a 
massive  head  and  an  intellectual  brow.  He  was  extremely 
active  and  vigorous,  a  strong  swimmer,  a  keen  fisherman, 
a  daring  waterman,^  and  a  strenuous  wrestler.  In  a  friendly 
encounter  with  some  fellow-students,  he  '  threw  three  like 
ninepins,'  but  by  craft  rather  than  force.  '  Being  of  short 
stature,  he  clasped  his  antagonist  low  down,  hoisted  him  oft 
his  feet  so  that  he  had  no  yoint  d'appui  beneath  him,  and 
then  dropped  him  flat,  sideways.'  The  love  of  combat, 
whether  physical  or  mental,  was  a  part  of  his  nature.  Argu- 
ment, or  '  controversee  '  as  he  pronounced  it,  for  he  had  not 
lost  his  Gaelic  accent,  was  his  chief  delight.  He  founded 
a  Debating  Society,  and  there  enjoyed  himself  to  the  top  of 
his  bent,  '  quickly  getting  most  of  his  opponents  into  tight 
corners.'  Wearying  of  this  experience,  the  other  members 
of  the  society  passed  a  resolution  that  the  debate  should  be 
conducted  in  Latin,  in  which  tongue  they  believed  MacColl 
to  be  only  moderately  proficient.  But  this  device  '  gave  them 
relief  only  for  a  time,  because  he  soon  quahfied  himself  to 
argue  in  a  kind  of  Latin,  probably  nearly  as  good  as  they 
could  speak  themselves.'  Even  the  authorities  of  the 
College  were    not    secure    from    MacColl's   argumentative 

1  '  He  steered  erratically  and   wildly,  so  as  to   make  rowing  dangerous 
and  landing  impossible.' 

B  2 


4  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

assaults.  He  used  to  interrupt  the  lectures  of  Hannah  and 
Bright  with  puzzling,  though  not  irrelevant,  questions,  and 
never  was  content  with  an  answer  which  did  not  satisfy 
the  logical  necessities  of  the  case.  We  are  told  that  his 
teachers,  even  when  most  tenacious  of  their  own  opinions, 
'  recognized  his  versatility  and  readiness  in  eluding  a  trap 
or  recovering  from  a  slip.'  An  even  more  daring  venture  of 
controversy  is  recorded  by  a  contemporary  : 

'In  Perth  in  1853  there  was  a  spitfire  priest  of  the 
Papal  persuasion.  He  gave  the  clergy  of  St.  Ninian's 
Cathedral  no  end  of  annoyance  by  provocative  pamphlets 
and  spouting.  MacCoU  wrote  a  reply,  characteristic  of 
course  ;  arranged  with  Masters  for  its  publication,  and 
advertised  the  fact  in  the  Guardian. 

'  "  Who  is  the  Malcolm  MacCoU  that  advertises  a  reply  in 
this  week's  Guardian  ?  "  said  Professor  Bright  one  day  at 
luncheon  in  the  Glenalmond  Dining-Hall. 

'  "  He  is  at  the  table,"  said  the  student  at  Bright's  right 
hand.  Bright's  face  assumed  a  stony  stare.  An  ominous 
silence  followed,  and  shortly  afterwards  MacCoU  was  called 
before  the  Warden,  who  pointed  out  to  him  the  impropriety 
of  one  in  his  position  championing  the  learned  staff  of  the 
Cathedral,  and  the  audacity  of  entering  the  lists  in  his 
half-fledged  state  against  an  experienced,  unscrupulous,  and 
coarse  controversialist,  and  advised  him  not  to  proceed 
with  the  publication.  MacColl  mentioned  the  financial 
difficulty  he  would  be  in  with  the  publisher.  The  Warden 
said  he  would  settle  that  liability,  and  so  MacColl's  reply 
to  the  spitfire  was  still-born.  But  the  Warden,  who  had 
read  the  proofs,  said  that  it  was  very  clever.' 

One  of  MacColl's  fellow-students  at  Glenalmond  supplies 
this  interesting  comment  on  the  Scottish,  as  opposed  to 
the  English,  system  of  instruction  : 

'  In  England  the  budding  mind  is  so  cabined,  cribbed, 
confined,  that  it  buds  rarely  and  shoots  sparsely.  No 
expression  of  independent  thinking  is  allowed.  In  examina- 
tions, the  contents  of  lectures  must  not  be  devia,ted,  {xotok^ 


BEGINNINGS  5 

nor  questioned,  however  open  to  attack.  To  be  in  statu 
pupillari  is  to  be  in  a  cage,  acting  the  part  of  parrot.  The 
result  is  a  plentiful  crop  of  minds  without  imagination, 
initiation,  or  go,  holding  opinions  minus  premisses — tame 
minds,  that  cumber  the  ground.  MacColl  went  through  the 
two  years'  course  untouched  by  such  taming,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  he,  a  thoroughbred  Kelt,  could  ever  have  been 
tamed  into  insignificance  like  a  plastic  Saxon.  The  status 
pwpillaris  may  not  be  thus  misused  now.  I  speak  of  it  only 
as  I  saw  it  in  my  early  days  under  some  Double  Firsts, 
who  often,  as  the  Irrepressibles  grew  in  intellectual  stature, 
had  to  sing  smaller.' 

This  early  encouragement  to  the  free  use  of  the  inde- 
pendent intellect  may  have  accounted  for  much  in  the 
character  and  career  of  Malcolm  MacColl. 

With  his  fellow-students,  as  in  earlier  days  with  his 
schoolfellows,  MacColl  seems  to  have  been  generally  popular, 
in  spite  of  some  resemblance  to  Diotrephes  in  the  matter 
of  pre-eminence.  They  admired  his  pluck  and  energy  ; 
his  conversational  gifts,  especially  in  the  art  of  telling 
ghost-stories  ;  his  '  enthusiasm  over  fine  passages  '  which 
he  encountered  in  his  reading  ;  his  manly  virtue  and  earnest 
piety.  One  who  made  a  walking-tour  with  him,  and  shared 
his  bedroom,  said  in  after  years  that  he  '  remembered  being 
impressed  by  the  length  of  time  he  took  to  say  his  prayers.' 
Another  wrote  :   '  In  all,  and  througli  all,  his  life  was  white.' 

During  this  period  of  preparation  MacColl  had  eked  out 
his  narrow  means  by  taking  private  tutorships,  but  his 
heart  had  always  been  set  on  Holy  Orders,  and  now  the  time 
drew  near  for  his  ordination.  It  had  been  expected  at  Glen- 
almond  that  he  would  seek  a  post  where  he  could  minister 
to  Gaelic-speaking  Highlanders  ;  but  he  decided  otherwise. 

The  Bishop  of  Glasgow  and  Galloway,  from  1848  to  1859, 
was  Walter  John  Trower,  and  the  following  notes  are 
extracted  from  his  Episcopal  Journal : 

'August  17,  1855. — After  much  correspondence  with 
members  of  the  Church  at  Castle  Douglas  in  Galloway,  it  was 
about  this  time  resolved  to  set  on  foot  a  Mission  at  this  place.' 


6  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

''October  7,  1855. — Preached  at  Castle  Douglas.  First 
Church  in  Galloway.' 

'  April  28,  1856. — Ordained.  .  .  .  Deacons  :  .  .  .  Mal- 
colm MacColl,  Castle  Douglas.  .  .  .  ' 

On  this  the  present  Bishop  of  Glasgow  remarks  : 

'  Curiously  enough  there  is  no  mention  of  MacCoU  having 
been  licensed  to  Castle  Douglas.  It  was,  however,  not 
altogether  without  precedent  in  former  days,  when  we 
were  short  of  clergy,  to  give  a  Deacon  charge  of  an  infant 
Mission,  though  afterwards  it  was  forbidden.' 

Bishop  Trower's  Journal  continues  : 

'  September  10,  1856. — Laid  the  foundation-stone  of 
the  new  church  (St.  Ninian's)  at  Castle  Douglas.  The 
services  attended  by  Provost  and  Council ;  and  a  large 
number  of  Presbyterians  as  well  as  Church-people.  They 
seemed  to  be  interested  and  impressed.' 

'August  25,  1857. — Ordained  in  St.  Mary's,  Glasgow: 
Priests  .  .  .  Rev.  M.  MacCoU  of  Castle  Douglas.' 

The  history  of  MacCoU's  early  days  at  Castle  Douglas 
may  best  be  given  in  his  own  words  written  in  1858  : 

'  I  found  a  congregation  composed  of  some  eight  or 
nine  county  families,  who  had  just  then  commenced  building 
a  church,  which  promises  to  be  very  handsome.  There 
were  no  poor  at  all  in  the  congregation  ;  but  I  am  happy 
to  say  that  the  half  are  now  composed  of  the  poor.  For 
a  clergyman  who  should  wish  to  live  at  ease  and  enjoy 
himself  I  know  no  place  preferable  to  Castle  Douglas.  The 
country  is  beautiful,  and  a  kinder  and  more  hospitable 
people  than  the  gentry  all  round  I  never  met.  But  to  a 
young  clergyman,  just  commencing  his  clerical  life.  Castle 
Douglas  has  its  dangers.  The  lightness  of  his  parochial 
duties,  and  the  pleasant  society  all  round  him,  have  a 
tendency  to  make  a  young  man  too  secular  and  fond  of 
pleasure.  At  all  events,  I  felt  reluctant  to  expose  myself 
too  much  to  the  temptation  ;   and  besides,  I  was  anxious. 


BEGINNINGS  7 

if  possible,  to  serve  a  year  or  two  as  curate  under  an  older 
and  more  experienced  clergyman.  Actuated  by  these 
considerations,  I  wrote  to  the  Bishop  three  months  after 
I  had  been  there,  resigning  my  charge  in  Castle  Douglas, 
and  recommending  him  to  send  an  older  man  to  succeed 
me.  He  replied,  in  a  very  kind  letter,  that  he  would  consult 
the  members  of  my  congregation,  and  let  me  know  the 
result ;  but  that,  if  I  should  leave  Castle  Douglas,  he  hoped 
I  would  not  leave  his  diocese,  as  he  could  give  me  another 
charge.  The  congregation  begged  me  to  stay,  and,  the 
Bishop  uniting  his  solicitation  with  theirs,  I  consented. 
However,  I  still  retained  my  own  opinion  that  an  older 
man  would  do  better  for  Castle  Douglas,  and  that  a  charge 
where  I  might  have  more  work  and  less  pleasure,  would  be 
better  for  me.  So  strongly  was  I  impressed  with  this, 
that  I  resigned  a  second  time  ;  but  my  congregation  again 
persuaded  me  to  withdraw  my  resignation. 

'Things  remained  in  this  state  till  September  1857, 
when  the  Bishop  was  there.  The  subject  was  then  revived 
between  us  ;  and  we  parted  with  the  understanding  that 
if  the  Bishop  should  hear  of  a  man  likely  to  suit  Castle 
Douglas  and  of  a  charge  likely  to  suit  me,  he  would  let  me 
know.  He  volunteered  a  pledge  that  my  leaving  Castle 
Douglas  should  be  optional  Avith  myself,  and  that  he  would 
propose  no  change  till  he  had  a  charge  to  offer  me  equivalent 
in  value  to  Castle  Douglas.  The  next  time  I  heard  from 
him  was  in  the  middle  of  March  1858,  when  I  had  a  short 
note  from  him,  saying  that  recent  circumstances  had 
induced  him  to  think  that  I  had  better  seek  another  charge, 
and  that  therefore  I  must  consider  my  licence  withdrawn 
at  the  end  of  three  months.' 

MacColl  had  been  unfortunate  in  the  time  and  place 
of  his  ordination.  In  1857  and  1858  the  Episcopal  Church 
of  Scotland  was  agitated  by  a  furious  controversy,  and  it 
was  difficult  for  a  young  and  ardent  ecclesiastic  to  keep 
quite  clear  of  the  theological  storm. 

In  August  1857  the  Bishop  of  Brechin,  Alexander 
Penrose    Forbes,     delivered    to    his    Diocesan    Synod    n 


8  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

long  and  learned  Charge  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist.  In  this  Charge  he  affirmed  the  Real  Objective 
Presence  and  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice ;  he  justified 
Eucharistic  Adoration ;  and  he  vindicated  the  Scottish 
Communion  Office,  which  at  that  time  had  in  many 
places  been  ousted  by  the  English  Office.  This  out- 
spoken utterance  alarmed  not  only  the  Puritan  element 
in  the  Church,  but  also  that  moderate  Anglicanism  which 
had  all  along  been  out  of  sympathy  with  the  higher 
tradition  of  Scottish  Episcopacy.  At  the  close  of  1857  a 
Declaration  (which  had  been  rejected  by  the  College  of 
Bishops)  was  issued  on  their  own  authority  by  the  Bishops 
of  Edinburgh,  Argyll,  and  Glasgow,  who  strongly  contro- 
verted the  theological  position  of  the  Bishop  of  Brechin. 
With  the  later  stages  of  the  controversy  and  the  vindication 
of  Eucharistic  doctrine  in  which  it  issued,  we  are  not  here 
concerned.  What  concerns  us  is  its  bearing  on  MacCoU's 
position  and  prospects.  The  admirers  of  the  three  pro- 
testing Bishops  started  Addresses  of  Thanks  to  them,  and 
these  addresses  were  circulated  for  signature  alike  among 
clergy  and  laity.  MacColl  refused  to  sign  the  address,  and 
had  the  courage  to  sign  a  Remonstrance  against  the  three 
Bishops'  declaration.  As  a  result  he  found  himself  under 
his  diocesan's  displeasure.  The  Bishop  dismissed  him  from 
his  charge  at  Castle  Douglas,  and  he  felt  himself,  in  his 
own  phrase,  '  snuffed  out.'  At  this  juncture,  Avith  his 
means  of  subsistence  summarily  cut  off,  and  a  younger 
brother  dependent  on  him,  he  bethought  himself  of  a  course 
which,  however  little  he  may  have  foreseen  it  at  the  moment, 
changed  his  whole  subsequent  life.  Mr.  Gladstone,  then 
M.P.  for  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  recently  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  in  Lord  Aberdeen's  Administration,  was 
known  to  all  men  as  a  zealous  and  munificent  supporter 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Scotland.  He  had  been  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  College  of  Glenalmond,  was  a 
member  of  its  Council,  and  had  maintained  a  constant 
interest  in  its  fortunes.  To  him,  by  a  happy  inspiration, 
MacColl  turned  in  his  perplexity,  and  \^Tote  the  following 
letter : 


BEGINNINGS  9 

Castle  Douglas,  March  26,  1858. 

'  Sir, — I  will  state  as  briefly  as  I  can  the  reasons  which 
induce  me  to  obtrude  myself  on  the  notice  of  an  eminent 
statesman,  whose  time  must  be  much  occupied,  but  whose 
well-known  benevolence  encourages  me  to  hope  that  he 
will  pardon  the  liberty  I  take  with  him. 

'  I  am  a  young  clergyman  in  the  diocese  of  Glasgow, 
and  an  alumnus  of  Trinity  College,  Glenalmond.  I  have 
disapproved  all  along  of  the  agitation  against  the  Bishop 
of  Brechin.  I  have  thought,  and  still  think,  that  the 
condemnation,  in  a  published  declaration,  by  the  Bishops 
of  Edinburgh,  Argyll,  and  Glasgow,  of  a  case  which  is  to 
come  before  them  in  their  judicial  capacity,  is  a  violation 
of  every  principle  of  justice  and  fair  play.  I  have,  there- 
fore, in  common  with  fifteen  of  my  brethren,  declined  to 
give  my  signature  to  an  Address  of  Thanks  to  the  Bishop 
for  his  declaration.  For  doing  this  the  Bishop  lias  availed 
himself  of  my  not  being  instituted  to  the  charge  of  Castle 
Douglas,  and  has  dismissed  me  from  his  diocese.  All  the 
members  of  my  congregation,  except  one  lady  and  one 
gentleman,  have  approved  of  my  conduct ;  and  I  am  sure 
they  would  make  a  demonstration  in  my  favour,  if  I  told 
them  of  the  Bishop's  summary  dismissal  of  me.  But 
that  would  not  be  advisable  ;  and  I  -wish  to  leave  in 
peace. 

'  The  effect  of  the  Bishop's  dismissal  of  me  is,  in  fact,  to 
deprive  me  of  my  daily  bread  ;  for  I  am  on  the  unpopular 
side,  and  there  is  no  likelihood  of  my  getting  a  situation  in 
the  Scottish  Church  ;  while  my  Scotch  Orders  shut  me  out 
from  England.^  What  makes  it  all  the  more  distressing 
to  me  is  that  I  have  a  young  brother  who  is  very  talented, 
and  whom  I  meant  to  have  assisted  to  an  Oxford  education. 
We  were  both  left  orphans  in  early  youth,  with  very  little 
to  depend  upon. 

'  It  has  just  crossed  my  mind  that  you  might,  perhaps, 
without  trouble  or  inconvenience  to  yourself,  put  me  in 
the  way  of  getting  a  Naval  Chaplaincy,  or  a  Tutorship  or 

*  By  tlie  then  existing  law  a  clergyman  in  Scotch  Orders  was  not  eligible 
for  preferment  in  the  Church  of  England  (see  p.  20). 


10  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Chaplaincy  in  a  family.  I  have  been  Private  Tutor  in  the 
families  of  Mr.  Grant  of  Kilgraston,  Lord  Charles  Kerr, 
Sir  John  Richardson  of  Pitfour,  and  Mr.  Graham  of  Gart- 
more,  from  all  of  whom,  as  well  as  from  my  congregation, 
I  can  produce  the  highest  testimonials.  If  you  could 
favour  me  in  this  respect,  I  can  only  say  that  my  gratitude 
would  be  deeper  than  words  can  express. 

'  As  your  time  has  of  late  been  so  much  occupied  by 
literary  pursuits,  as  well  as  parliamentary  duties,  you  have 
probably  not  had  time  to  read  the  Bishop  of  Brechin's 
Charge,  which  was  published  last  June,  and  of  which  the 
laity  knew  nothing  till  the  unfortunate  Declaration  of  the 
three  Bishops  in  December  appealing  to  the  private  judg- 
ment of  the  laity  on  one  of  the  most  mysterious  points 
of  our  religion.  The  Bishop's  Charge  is  a  short  exposition 
of  what  is  so  ably  and  devotionally  treated  in  Keble's 
beautiful  treatise  on  Eucharistical  Adoration.  The  Bishop 
had  been  accused  of  teaching  Transubstantiation,  and  the 
Romish  worship  of  the  Host ;  but  those  who  so  accuse 
him  cannot  have  read  his  Charge,  or  I  don't  very  much 
admire  their  honesty  ;  for  he  distinctly  protests  against 
those  tenets,  and  even  expresses  his  disapproval  of  the 
custom  of  carrying  about  the  Host  in  processions.  He  takes 
his  stand  upon  the  Church  of  England  doctrine,  and  that 
of  the  primitive  Church,  that  Christ  is  present  in  the 
Eucharist  really  and  objectively,  though  not  materially  or 
carnally  ;  and  that  to  Christ  so  present — not  to  the  elements 
of  bread  and  wine — adoration  [Xarpela)  is  due.  Now, 
if  it  be  allowed  that  Christ  is  present  in  the  Eucharist 
really  and  Personally,  though  mysteriously  and  trans- 
cendentally,  surely  no  mortal  man  has  a  right  to  say  that 
He  is  not  to  be  adored.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  cannot 
deny  Eucharistical  adoration  without  denying  the  Objective 
Presence  in  the  Eucharist,  and  falling  back  on  the  mere 
subjective  theory,  or  on  that  of  the  old  Scotch  Non-jurors, 
that  Christ  is  present  only  by  virtue  and  efficacy.  Dean 
Ramsay's  theor}'',  published  lately  in  a  sermon,  seems  a 
sort  of  conglomeration  of  these  two.  But,  when  we  speak 
of  Christ's  Real  Presence  in  the  Eucharist,  surely  we  mean 


BEGINNINGS  11 

something  different  from  a  mere  affluence ;  surely  the 
expression  itself  proves  that  the  Presence  of  Christ  in  the 
Eucharist  is  different  from  the  grace  of  Baptism  not  only 
in  degree,  but  in  kind.  But  we  never  speak  of  the  Real 
Presence  of  Christ  in  Baptism. 

'  Again,  the  Bishop  says  that  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice 
is  "  substantially  the  same  "  with  the  Sacrifice  on  the  Cross. 
The  expression  is  an  unfortunate  one  ;  for  it  is  liable  to 
misconception,  and  has  been  misconceived,  though  the 
Bishop  uses  it  in  a  sense  which,  I  am  sure,  must  appear 
orthodox  to  any  sound  Churchman,  What  the  Bishop 
means  is  simply  this  :  that  in  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice  the 
benefits  purchased  once  for  all  on  the  Cross  are  applied  and 
extended  to  Christians.  The  Sacrifice  of  Christ  on  the  Cross 
was  "  a  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation,  and 
satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world  "  considered  in 
the  abstract.  But  men  are  not  only  one  by  their  unity  of 
nature  :  they  are  also  individuals  by  the  gift  of  personalit}^ 
and  free  will.  The  Incarnation  and  Death  of  Christ  elevated 
and  reconstructed  humanity,  but  they  did  not  affect  the 
individuals  of  that  race,  except  in  so  far  as  they  affected 
the  nature  common  to  all.  It  seemed  good  to  God,  how- 
ever, to  appoint  a  sacramental  organization  for  conveying 
to  individual  members  of  mankind  the  benefits  purchased 
for  the  whole  race  on  Calvary.  Those  benefits  are  peculiarly 
bestowed  on  the  Eucharist,  through  which  flows  mystically 
"  for  the  heahng  of  the  nations  "  the  Precious  Blood  shed 
once  for  all  in  agony  on  Calvary.  Christ  is  perpetually 
offering  himself,  as  "  a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain,"  in  the 
inner  shrine  above  ;  and,  by  His  own  appointment.  His 
priests  on  earth  are  offering  the  "  image,"  as  Keble  expresses 
it,  of  what  He  is  offering  above  in  the  actual  verity  of  His 
manhood.  This,  and  nothing  else,  is  what  the  Bishop  of 
Brechin  means  by  saying  that  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Eucharist 
is  "  substantially  the  same  "  with  the  Sacrifice  on  the  Cross. 
And  yet  he  has  been  stigmatized  as  a  "  Jesuit  in  disguise," 
and  a  "  traitor  within  the  camp  "  ;  and  three  of  his  own 
brethren— who  are  hereafter  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  him — 
have  heralded  the  cry  !     I  know  from  the  Bishop  himself 


12  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

that  the  explanation  M^hich  I  have  given  of  his  Charge  is  the 
correct  one. 

'  Of  course  I  would  not  have  presumed  to  give  this 
explanation  of  the  Bishop  of  Brechin's  Charge  to  one  who 
has  added  a  deep  knowledge  of  theology  to  his  other  accom- 
plishments, if  I  had  thought  that  you  had  read  the  Charge. 
There  are  few  books  from  which  I  have  derived  more 
instruction  than  from  your  treatise  on  "Church  Principles 
considered  in  their  Results." 

'  I  have  written  very  frankly,  and  I  fear  too  boldly,  to 
one  so  immeasurably  my  superior  in  every  way  ;  but  I 
think  you  will  not  take  it  amiss.  I  use  no  words  of  adula- 
tion when  I  say  that  I  should  look  upon  it  as  a  very  great 
calamity  if  I  were  inadvertently  to  offend  a  man  whom  I 
admire  so  much.  .  .  . 

'  Malcolm  MacColl.' 

To  this  letter  Gladstone  sent  a  remarkably  kind  reply, 
sympathizing  with  MacCoU's  difficulties  and  offering  to 
help  him  in  the  matter  of  his  younger  brother's  education.^ 
MacColl  conveyed  his  thanks  in  the  following  words  ; 

'  I  cannot  sufficiently  express  in  words  the  debt  of  grati- 
tude I  owe  you  for  what  you  kindly  say  with  respect  to  my 
brother's  education.  It  is  my  privilege  to  have  some 
friends  among  several  good  families  in  Scotland  ;  but  I  am 
afraid  I  should  make  but  a  sorry  mendicant.  I  don't 
think  I  should  ever  sum  up  courage  to  ask  any  of  my  friends 
for  pecuniary  assistance  towards  my  brother's  education. 
It  was  my  intention  to  try  and  save  out  of  my  own  income  a 
sum  sufficient  to  keep  my  brother  at  Oxford  ;  and  if  God 
should  give  me  a  situation,  perhaps  I  may  be  able  to  do  so 
still.  At  any  rate,  I  shall  always  remember  with  gratitude 
your  kind  offer  to  interest  yourself  in  the  matter.' 

On  May  30,  1858,  he  wrote  as  follows  : 

'  I  find  that  I  am  tabooed  by  the  Bishops  for  signing 
the  clerical  remonstrance  to  them,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say 

^  Hugh  MacColl,  afterwards  Master  at  the  College  Communal,  Boulogne- 
sur-Mer,  author  of  Algebraical  Exercises  and  Problems,  &c. 


BEGINNINGS  13 

the  door  of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church  is  closed  against 
me.  It  is  very  hard  to  be  thus  excluded  from  a  Church 
which  I  love,  and  to  which  I  am  convinced  I  am  as  loyal, 
in  my  own  humble  sphere,  as  any  of  the  Bishops  in  their 
exalted  stations.  But  we  have  all  our  crosses,  and  I  must 
not  repine.     I  hardly  know  what  to  do.' 

On  leaving  Castle  Douglas,  MacColl  spent  some  time  with 
his  friends,  the  Grants  of  Kilgraston  ;  and  then,  seeing  no 
prospect  of  clerical  employment  in  Scotland,  he  betook 
himself  to  London.  On  November  4,  1858,  he  wrote  to 
Gladstone  :  '  I  cannot  help  feeling  melancholy,  and  some- 
what wretched,  at  being,  as  I  am,  forcibly  expatriated  from 
my  native  country.'  But,  though  expatriated,  he  was  not 
friendless.  The  Rev.  John  Charles  Chambers  (1817-1874) 
had  been  head  of  the  seminary  where  MacColl  was  trained 
for  a  schoolmaster,  and  was  now  Incumbent  of  St.  Mary-the- 
Virgin,  Soho.  He  welcomed  his  former  pupil  with  open 
arms,  and  assigned  to  him  a  work  which  MacColl  thus 
described  : 

'  I  accepted,  without  salary,  the  Principalship  of  an 
establishment  in  Carlisle  Street,  Soho.  I  believe  that  a 
large  majority  of  the  young  men  who  go  astray  in  London 
do  so,  not  from  any  love  of  sin  for  its  own  sake,  but  from  the 
dreariness  of  a  solitary  lodging.  They  go  forth  to  seek  in 
forbidden  haunts  the  counterfeits  of  those  innocent  recrea- 
tions and  that  cheerful  society  which  they  left  behind  them 
at  home.  It  is  very  sad  to  see  a  young  man  who  possesses, 
it  may  be,  the  elements  of  real  greatness  of  mind,  morally, 
if  not  temporally,  ruined  for  lack  of  the  external  x^PVy^^ 
which  might  have  kept  him  on  the  true  road  to  happiness. 
Carlisle  House  is  intended  to  supply  this  want.  ...  It 
offers,  as  far  as  may  be,  a  substitute  for  home.' 

But,  although  this  work  was  both  interesting  and 
congenial,  it  was  impossible  for  MacColl  to  continue  long 
in  an  unpaid  office.  At  this  moment  his  difficulties  were 
great  and  pressing.  On  March  5,  1859,  he  wrote  to  Gladstone 
that  he   was   convinced  that  the  Scottish  Bishops  WQxild 


14  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

refuse  to  employ  a  man  who  rejected  the  Protestant  doctrine 
of  the  Eucharist,  and  said  that  he  '  would  rather  break 
stones  on  the  road  all  his  life  '  than  accept  their  ruling 
on  the  point : 

'  I  only  hope  the  unwise  conduct  of  the  Bishops  will 
not  have  the  effect  of  driving  any  of  our  communion  to 
Rome.  When  one  is  told  that  the  doctrine  which  he  holds 
cannot  be  held  without  treason,  except  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  that  if  he  is  consistent  he  will  join  that  Church, 
there  is  a  strong  temptation  to  put  one's  fingers  in  one's 
ears,  and  shut  one's  eyes,  and  make  a  blind  leap  across  to 
Rome,  with  a  sort  of  confused  hope  that  it  may  be  better, 
and  cannot  be  worse,  than  the  communion  one  is  leaving. 
I  have  felt  that  temptation  ;  but  I  pray  God  I  may  not, 
in  a  fit  of  impatient  vexation,  do  that  which  I  should 
probably  repent  of  all  my  life  afterwards. 

'  And  now,  dear  Mr.  Gladstone,  good-bye,  and  believe 
that,  wherever  Providence  may  cast  my  future  lot,  I  shall 
never  forget  your  kindness.' 

He  applied  unsuccessfully  for  various  tutorships,  for  a 
naval  chaplaincy,  an  army  chaplaincy,  and  an  Indian  chap- 
laincy. He  offered  himself  for  the  Mission-field.  He  secured 
an  appointment  under  the  Bishop  of  Nelson,  which  failed 
him  when  he  made  all  his  arrangements  for  starting.  At 
every  turn  he  found  himself,  on  account  of  his  part  in  the 
Scottish  controversy,  a  marked  man.  All  the  doors  of 
ecclesiastical  employment  seemed  closed  to  him  ;  and,  in 
his  despair,  he  thought  of  undertaking  some  secular  employ- 
ment.    On  July  18,  1859,  he  wrote  : 

'  All  I  want  is  to  gain  an  honest  livelihood,  and  I  am 
not  too  proud  to  accept  any  respectable  situation.  Under 
the  circumstances,  I  do  not  think  there  would  be  anything 
wrong  in  my  employing  myself  in  a  secular  capacit3\  Bishop 
Wordsworth  distinctly  told  me,  at  our  interview,  that  I 
had  only  two  courses  before  me — "either  to  accept  the 
decision  of  the  Bishops,  or  to  retire  into  lay  communion." 
I  have  twice  been  promised  an  Indian  Chaplaincy,  and  been 


BEGINNINGS  15 

twice  disappointed  ;  and  now  I  see  nothing  for  it,  but  to 
embrace  Bishop  Wordsworth's  second  alternative.  I  cer- 
tainly will  not  acquiesce  in  the  Bishops'  decision,  come 
what  will.  .  ,  , 

'  Well,  it  cannot  be  helped.  I  would  do  all  over  again 
what  I  have  already  done.  I  have  obeyed  my  conscience, 
and,  I  hope,  it  shall  never  be  said  of  me  that  I  deserted  a 
party  with  whom  I  sympathized,  because  they  were  un- 
popular and  persecuted.  If  God  sees  it  good  for  me  to  suffer 
distress  and  loss  of  friends,  I  must  try  not  to  repine.' 

During  the  autumn  of  1859  he  spent  some  weeks  at 
the  college  founded  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Boyle  (afterwards  T.ord 
Glasgow),  in  the  Isle  of  Cumbrae.  In  the  winter  of  that 
year  he  visited  Italy,  and  studied  for  a  while  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Naples.  In  1860  he  estabhshed  himself  in  Aberdeen, 
officiating,  under  the  Bishop's  licence,  at  St.  John's  Church  ; 
but  his  active  participation  in  the  Eucharistic  controversy, 
which  was  still  raging,  made  it  likely  that  he  would  soon 
be  deprived  of  even  that  modest  office.  The  Incumbent  of 
St.  John's,  Aberdeen,  was  the  Rev.  Patrick  Cheyne,  who 
was  suspended  by  the  Bishop  from  his  sacerdotal  functions 
for  teaching  a  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist  similar  to  that 
taught  by  Bishop  Forbes.  MacColl  boldly  flung  himself 
into  the  fighting  line.  In  1860  he  preached,  and  published, 
an  Eucharistic  sermon  called  '  Christ's  Presence  no  Blessing 
to  the  Unworthy  '  ;  and  in  the  same  year  addressed  an 
open  letter  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  called  '  Mr.  Cheyne  and  the 
Bishop  of  Brechin.'  In  a  private  letter  dated  March  14, 
1860,  he  expressed  a  conviction  that  he  would  soon  be 
put  out  of  his  'Stewardship,' adding  these  characteristic 
words  : 

'  I  am  not  in  quite  so  bad  a  case  as  the  Unjust  Steward. 
God  has  given  me  youth  and  health  ;  and  if  matters  come 
to  the  worst,  I  can  "dig."  After  all,  £100  a  year— the 
maximum  income  of  most  of  our  clergy — is  not  so  great 
an  inducement  that  one  should  play  the  coward,  and  sacri- 
fice his  self-respect  for  the  sake  of  it.  I  do  not  wish,  how- 
ever, to  judge  others  harshly,     Jf  Ihad  a  wife  and  children 


16  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

— as,  unfortunately,  most  of  our  poor  clergy  have — I 
should  probably  be  as  cautious  and  timid  as  any  of  them. 
A  better  feeling  than  remorse  or  self-interest  often  "  makes 
cowards  of  us  all.''  I  know  that  many  have  shrunk  back 
in  this  controversy,  who  are  much  better  Christians  than 
I ;  and  therefore  it  would  be  very  wrong  of  me  to  find 
fault  with  them.' 


CHAPTER  II 


TRANSITION 


The  more  I  look  into  the  Church  of  England,  the  more  do  I  recognize  the 
marks  of  a  true  Apostolical  Church. — Edward  Irving. 

The  moment  had  now  arrived  for  MacCoU's  transition  from 
the  service  of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church  to  that  of 
the  Church  of  England.  His  engagement  at  Aberdeen  had 
come  to  an  end,  and,  despairing  of  fair  play  north  of  the 
Tweed,  he  determined  to  seek  clerical  employment  in  Eng- 
land. The  Church  of  St.  Barnabas,  Pimlico,  then  under 
the  incumbency  of  the  Rev.  George  Cosby  White,i  was  one 
of  the  strongholds  of  Cathohcism  in  London,  and  thither 
MacCoU  turned  his  steps.  Mr.  White  thus  records  the 
incident :  '  Mr.  Humble,  who  was  at  that  time  on  the  staff 
of  St.  Ninian's,  Perth,  sent  Mr.  MacColl  to  call  upon  me, 
with  a  request  that  I  would  do  what  I  could  to  find  work 
for  him  in  London.  He  expressed  a  wish  to  be  connected 
with  St.  Barnabas.  At  that  time  clergy  who  had  received 
Scottish  Orders  were  under  a  disability,  and  not  allowed  to 
minister  in  England  beyond  a  fixed  period.  (I  think  not 
more  than  a  fortnight.)  I  was  in  want  of  help  at  the  time, 
and  advised  MacColl  to  see  Bishop  Tait  and  find  whether 
he  was  disposed  to  grant  him  a  temporary  licence.  The 
two  Scotsmen  arranged  a  concordat,  and  MacColl  joined  the 
staff  at  St.  Barnabas  pro  tem.^  ^ 

^  Still  (1914)  spared  to  the  Church  which  he  has  so  long  served. 

"  It  may  interest  some  readers  of  this  book  to  know  that  one  of  the 
most  diligent  workers  in  MacCoU's  ' district '  Mas  a  young  bride,  Mrs.  Pascoe 
Glyn. 

17  c 


18  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

On  Easter  Tuesday,  April  2,  1861,  MacCoU  wrote  to 
Mr.  Gladstone  : 

'  I  have  been  officiating  as  one  of  the  curates  of 
St.  Barnabas  for  the  last  six  weeks  with  the  Bishop  of 
London's  Licence.  I  became  acquainted  with  him  through 
the  Grants  of  Kilgraston.  My  Licence  has  to  be  renewed 
every  fortnight ;  and  the  Bishop  has  kindly  offered  to 
renew  it  as  often  as  1  wish.  He  told  me  that  a  Bill  would 
soon  be  introduced  into  Parliament  for  the  repeal  of  the 
Disabilities.' 

Then,  turning  from  his  OAvn  affairs,  MacColl  referred  to 
current  reports  that  Gladstone  intended  to  retire  from  the 
representation  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  expressed 
an  earnest  hope  that  they  were  unfounded. 

'  For  my  own  part,  if  you  will  pardon  me  for  saying  so, 
I  believe  it  would  be  a  great  calamity  for  the  cause  of 
Religion  in  England  if  you  were  at  this  time  to  resign  your 
seat.  As  regards  personal  influence,  I  believe  that  Mr. 
Jowett  occupies,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  place  which  New- 
man left  vacant.  A  distinguished  man  at  Oxford  told  me 
that  "  the  young  intellect  of  Oxford  was  at  Jowett's  feet." 
Surely,  then,  it  is  very  important  that  Oxford  should  be 
represented  by  a  man  in  whom  the  most  varied  learning  and 
the  highest  gifts  of  intellect  are  united  with  the  fullest  belief 
in  the  truths  which  the  "  Essays  and  Reviews  "  impugn, ^ 
Young  men  are,  on  the  whole,  rather  feeling,  than  reasoning, 
animals.  One  example  will  do  more  to  convince  them  than 
a  thousand  arguments. 

'  Did  the  Essayists  really  see  the  abyss  to  which  their 
speculations  tend,  surely  they  would  feel  that,  before 
attempting  to  sift  facts,  they  ought  to  make  sure  that  they 
have  a  firm  hold  of  true  and  eternal  principles.  To  un- 
settle the  minds  of  a  generation,  when  you  giv^e  them 
no  land-marks  and  no  causeway  across  the  morass,  is  to 
undertake  a  great  responsibility  ;  and  this  the  Essayists 
have  done.* 

1  Essays  and  Reviews  was  published  in  February  1860. 


TRANSITION  10 

On  August  28  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Gladstone  : 

'  1  am  still  at  St.  Barnabas  by  the  kind  permission  of 
the  Bishop  of  London.  If  the  Disabilities  are  removed,  I 
should  like  no  better  situation  ;  but,  as  it  is,  I  am  allowed 
no  salary.  However,  I  think  I  can  manage  to  hang  on  till 
next  Session,  when  I  hope  something  will  be  done  to  remove 
the  Disabilities.' 

St.  Barnabas  was  a  daughter-church  of  St.  Paul's, 
Knightsbridge,  and  MacColl  was  now  transferred  to 
St.  Paul's.     On  June  23,  1862,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Gladstone  : 

'  Many  thanks  for  your  kind  note  about  the  Disabilities. 
The  Bishop  still  consents  to  my  officiating  at  St.  Paul's  ; 
but  of  course  I  am  at  the  mercy  of  Mr.  Westerton.'  ^ 

Early  in  the  following  year,  MacColl,  who  was  always 
desirous  to  see  the  world,  accepted  an  engagement  as 
Domestic  Chaplain  to  the  British  Ambassador  at  St.  Peters- 
burg,2  and  tutor  to  his  sons.  His  impressions  of  religion  in 
Russia  are  given  in  a  letter  of  April  5,  1863  : 

'  I  am  very  much  disappointed  in  the  Russian  Church. 
The  Parish  Priests,  or  White  Clergy,  as  they  are  called,  are 
ignorant  and  indolent.  They  never  visit  the  poor,  and  they 
are  despised  by  the  upper  classes.  How,  indeed,  can  it  be 
otherwise,  so  long  as  the  priesthood  is  a  degraded  caste  ? 
As  a  rule,  a  Russian  priest  must  bring  up  his  sons  as  priests  ; 
and,  if  a  nobleman  enters  the  ranks  of  the  White  Clergy, 
he  forfeits  his  nobility  and  all  his  privileges  for  himself 
and  his  family  for  ever.  You  never  meet  a  priest  in  the 
upper  grades  of  society.  Yet  outwardly  the  Russians 
pay  the  most  obsequious  respect  to  their  priests.  If,  on 
some  formal  occasion,  a  priest  should  find  his  way  into  the 
house  of  a  nobleman,  the  lady  of  the  house  kisses  his  hand 
with  every  demonstration  of  respect,  and  he  leads  the  way 
into  the  dining-room.  But  this  theoretical  reverence  is 
coupled  with  practical  contempt.     Whatever  religion  there 

1  The  Protestant  churchwarden  of  St.  Paul's,  Knightsbridge. 
*  Lord  Napier  and  Ettrick. 


20  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

is,  is  confined  to  the  lower  classes.  They  are  certainly  very 
religious  ;  but  they  are  very  ignorant.  The  monks  are 
called  Black  Clergy  ;  but  it  is  a  case  where  black  is  white. 
They  are  far  superior  to  the  secular  Clergy.  Their  ranks  are 
occasionally  recruited  from  the  upper  classes  ;  because,  as 
they  are  under  a  vow  of  celibacy,  it  does  not  matter  to  a 
nobleman  whether  he  loses  his  nobility  or  not,  by  becoming 
a  monk.  The  Bishops  are  chosen  from  the  Black  Clergy. 
A  number  of  Russians  communicate  in  the  English  Church 
here  at  Easter.  Every  Russian  who  holds  a  public  appoint- 
ment, in  the  army  or  elsewhere,  must,  at  every  Easter, 
produce  a  certificate  of  having  communicated  somewhere. 
So  many  of  them — to  avoid  Confession  in  their  own  Church, 
I  fear — communicate  in  the  English  Church.  The  late 
Count  Nesselrode  went  to  Church  one  day,  and  only  one 
day,  in  the  year ;  and  that  was  to  receive  the  Holy 
Communion  in  the  English  Church  at  Easter.' 

While  acting  as  cliaplain  to  Lord  Napier,  MacColl  was 
offered  the  incumbency  of  the  English  Congregation  at 
St.  Petersburg  ;  but  this  he  declined,  and  by  February 
1864  was  back  in  England,  and  again  officiating  at 
St.  Barnabas,  Pimlico  ;  whence,  on  July  12,  he  wrote  as 
follows  to  Mr.  George  Moffatt,  M.P.  for  Honiton  : 

'  May  I  remind  you,  as  you  kindly  asked  me,  that  the 
Bill  for  the  removal  of  the  Disabilities^  of  the  Scottish 
Episcopal  Clergy  comes  on  for  the  Second  Reading  to- 
morrow ?  I  hear  that  those  two  arch-bigots,  Mr.  Arthur 
Kinnaird  and  Mr.  Newdegate,  intend  to  oppose  it,  and 
I  hope  you  will  do  your  best  to  defeat  their  attempt.  ■  Is  it 
not  absurd,  and  "  a  disgrace  to  the  Statute-Book,"  as  Sir 
G.  C.  Lewis  once  said  in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  I 
should  still  be  punished  because  my  ancestors  a  century 
or  more  ago  were  Jacobites,  and  would  not  pray  tor  the 
Hanoverian  Dynasty  ?  For  that  is  literally  the  ground 
upon  which  the  DisabiUties  were  imposed.' 


^  These  disabilities  were  removed  by  Act  of  Parliament  at  the  end  of  the 
Session  of  18(34. 


i 


TRANSITION  21 

From  St.  Barnabas  MacColl  again  transferred  himself  to 
St.  Paul's,  Knightsbridge,  receiving  the  Lambeth  Degree  of 
M.A.  from  Archbishop  Longley  in  October  1864.  One  of 
his  clerical  colleagues  writes  : 

'  We  were  for  three  years  together  curates  of  St.  Paul's, 
and,  as  we  lived  next  door  to  one  another  in  Lyall  Place,  we 
had  breakfast  at  each  other's  lodgings  alternately.  He  was 
a  hot-blooded  Highlander,  with  a  bull-dog  tenacity ;  very 
loyal  and  affectionate  to  friends,  but  a  merciless  opponent.' 

The  mercilessness  here  attributed  to  MacColl  pertained 
exclusively  to  his  character  as  a  public  controversialist.  In 
private  life  he  was  the  most  peaceable  and  placable  of  men. 
But  when  he  took  his  pen  in  hand  to  defend  some  cause 
in  which  he  believed,  or  to  attack  wrong-doing,  or  even  to 
expose  what  he  esteemed  fallacious  reasoning,  he  smote  and 
spared  not.  We  have  already  seen  that,  even  in  his  student- 
days,  he  essayed  a  theological  controversy  with  an  unscrupu- 
lous foe  ;  and,  when  he  had  reached  the  maturity  of  his 
powers,  Gladstone  pronounced  him  the  best  pamphleteer 
in  England.  The  Catalogue  of  the  British  Museum  reveals 
him  as  the  author  of  twenty-three  books  and  tracts,  besides 
prefaces,  introductions,  and  the  like  ;  and  of  these  at  least 
seventeen  are  clearly  controversial.  Over  and  above  the 
works  avowed  with  his  name,  he  wrote  a  great  deal  under  the 
signature  of  '  Scrutator,'  while  his  anonymous  contributions 
to  the  daily,  Aveekly,  monthly,  and  quarterly  Press  were 
incessant  and  innumerable.  He  was  leader-writer,  reviewer, 
special  commissioner,  and  purveyor  of  exclusive  information. 
His  correspondence  proves  him  to  have  been  on  confidential 
terms  with  the  Editors  of  the  Times,  the  Daily  Neivs, 
the  Daily  Telegraph,  the  Daily  Chronicle,  the  Guardian, 
the  Spectator,  and  the  Saturday  Review ;  and  he  seems  to 
have  never  been  so  happy  as  when  he  was  working  these 
various  oracles  in  the  interests  of  the  men  and  the  causes 
that  he  held  dear. 


CHAPTER  III 

GLADSTONIANISM 

What  is  Romance  ?     The  world  well  lost  for  an  idea — is  not  that  the  essence 
of  it  ? — Chakles  Bigg. 

By  this  time  MacColl  had  become  a  devoted  follower  of 
Mr.  Gladstone  ;  alike  in  politics,  in  theology,  and  in  the 
mixed  sphere  where  religion  and  citizenship  meet.^  The 
General  Election  of  1865  was  at  hand,  and  everyone  knew 
that  Gladstone's  seat  at  Oxford  was  seriously  imperilled 
by  the  strenuous  attack  of  Gathorne  Hardy,  afterwards 
Lord  Cranbrook.  MacColl,  having  no  connexion  with 
Oxford,  could  only  have  an  indirect  influence  on  the 
affairs  of  the  University  ;  but  what  influence  he  had  he 
used  with  unsparing  diligence.  The  following  letter  to 
Gladstone  is  an  amusing  illustration  of  his  methods  : 

'  May  6,  1865. — A  Political  Biography  of  you  by  a 
Mr.  Masheder,-  a  Cambridge  man,  and  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal writers  on  the  staff  of  the  Standard  ncAvspaper,  has 
been  sent  to  me  for  review.  It  is,  of  course,  written 
with  the  view  of  damaging  your  prospects  at  the  next 
Oxford  Election  ;  but  it  will  certainly  have  the  very 
opposite  effect ;  for  Mr.  Masheder's  object  is  to  prove — 
and  I  think  he  does  it  very  successfully — that  you 
have  been  a  consistent  High  Churchman  all  your  life, 
and  a  consistent  Liberal  since   1842-3,  when  you  found 

'  In  later  years  he  sometimes  used  the  signature  of  '  Ex-Tory.' 
3  The  Eight  Honourable   William  Eicart  Gladstone,   M.P.    etc. :  A  political 
revi&iv.     By  R.  Masheder. 

22 


GLADSTONIANISM  23 

that  the  idea  of  the  Church  developed  in  your  book  on 
Church  and  State  was  utterly  repudiated  by  the  Tories. 
He  admits,  on  behalf  of  the  Tories,  that  they  know  nothing 
of  the  Church  of  England,  except  as  a  "  Protestant  Estab- 
lishment "  ;  and  he  rejects  with  scorn  the  notion  of  the 
Church  having  any  existence  or  reality  apart  from  the 
State.  He  scolds  the  University  of  Oxford,  in  no  measured 
terms,  for  having  repeatedly  elected  so  consistent  a  Liberal 
and  so  "  Tractarian  "  a  Churchman  as  yourself.  At  the 
same  time,  Mr.  Masheder  is  not  a  Low  Churchman.  He 
abuses,  with  impartial  vituperation,  the  Tractarians,  Evan- 
gelicals, and  Broad  Church  School — every  school,  in  fact, 
which  would  stir  up,  independently  of  political  considera- 
tions, the  spiritual  energies  of  the  Church,  His  idea 
evidently  is,  that  the  Church  of  England  is  a  political 
institution  ordained  by  Providence  to  help  the  Tories 
against  the  Whigs.  It  must  have  been  in  a  fit  of  judicial 
insanity  that  the  Tories  were  induced  to  put  forward  such 
a  champion  at  this  moment  to  fight  their  battle  at  Oxford. 
The  book  has  fallen  like  a  shell  among  your  High  Church 
opponents.  It  has  only  been  out  a  few  days,  and  it  has 
already  to  my  knoAvledge,  converted  several  of  your 
opponents. 

'  My  object,  however,  in  writing  this  note,  is  to  obtain 
information  on  the  two  following  points  : 

'  Were  you  not  rejected  by  the  Borough  of  Newark  in 
1845,  because  you  were  too  Liberal  ?  And  did  not  the 
Tories  oppose  your  election  for  Oxford  in  1847  on  the  same 
ground  ?  I  cannot  obtain  any  certain  information  on  the 
subject,  though  I  have  asked  several  persons.  Will  you, 
therefore,  kindly  pardon  me  for  applying  to  yourself 
directly  ? 

'  You  will  be  amused  to  hear  that  Mr.  Masheder  solemnly 
decides  that  you  have  no  claim  whatever  to  the  title  of  an 
orator  ;  and  just  as  little  to  that  of  a  financier.  He  thinks 
that,  if  the  Tories  had  been  in  power  for  the  last  six  years, 
the  finances  of  the  nation  would  now  be  in  a  very  different 
condition  ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  him.  His 
book,  however,  is  valuable  in  one  respect  :    he  has  proved 


24  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  demonstration,  from  Hansard,  that  every  argument 
which  is  urged  against  your  election  in  1865  was  equallj'' 
valid  at  every  previous  election.' 

In  reply,  Gladstone  gave  the  required  information, 
which  MacColl  promptly  embodied  in  a  vigorous  pamphlet 
called  '  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Oxford,'  by  '  Scrutator.'  It 
appears  from  this  pamphlet  that  there  were  six  grounds  on 
which  Gladstone's  opponents  had  attacked  him  with  special 
vigour.  First,  that  he  had  maintained  the  '  natural  rights 
of  man  '  as  the  basis  of  the  Franchise  ;  that  he  had  voted 
for  a  Dissenters'  Burial  Bill ;  that  he  favoured  the  Abolition 
of  Tests  ;  that  he  had  threatened  the  Irish  Church  ;  that 
he  supported  the  '  Conscience  Clause  '  in  schools  ;  and  that 
Professor  Jowett  was  on  his  committee.  MacColl  took 
these  charges  point  by  point,  denying  some,  extenuating 
others,  justifying  Gladstone's  conduct  in  all ;  and  urging 
the  supremacy  of  his  claims  as  a  representative  of  church- 
manship  and  learning.  The  pamphlet  is  cogently  argued, 
vigorously  worded,  and  full  of  those  recriminating  allusions 
which  politicians  love.  It  was  certainly  a  very  remarkable 
production  for  a  London  curate,  educated  in  Scotland,  and 
hitherto  unversed  in  political  warfare. 

On  July  8,  1865,  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Cazenove  wrote  from  the 
College  at  Cumbrae  (of  which  he  was  Canon,  and  after- 
wards Provost)  : 

'  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  copy  of  your 
pamphlet,  which  seems  to  me  very  cogent  and  masterly.  .  .  . 

'  Mr.  Gladstone's  second  son  ^  is  reading  with  me  here, 
and  a  very  nice,  modest,  unassuming  person  he  seems 
to  be.' 

However,  Mr.  Masheder  and  his  friends  carried  the  day. 
Gladstone  lost  the  seat,  but  was  returned  '  unmuzzled,' 
as  he  said,  for  South  Lancashire.  On  Lord  Palmerston's 
death  in  the  following  October,  Lord  Russell  became  Prime 
Minister,  with  Gladstone  as  Leader  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

1  Stephen  Edward  Gladstone,  afterMaids  Rector  of  Hawarden, 


GLADSTONIANLSM  25 

In  February  1866  the  Government  introduced  a  very 
moderate  Reform  Bill,  which  was  defeated  in  the  House 
of  Commons  by  the  discontented  Liberals  whom  Bright 
likened  to  the  dwellers  in  the  Cave  of  Adullam.  Gladstone, 
set  free  from  office,  spent  the  autumn  and  winter  of 
1866  in  Italy,  and  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  received 
the  following  letter  from  MacColl,  who  was  staying  in 
Ireland  with  Colonel  Greville-Nugent,  afterwards  Lord 
Greville  : 

'  Clonyn  Castle,  Delvin,  September  19,  1866. — I  am 
very  glad  to  heab  that  your  speeches  are  in  the  press, 
and  so  is  Colonel  Greville-Nugent.  I  suppose  we  shall 
see  them  advertised  soon,  and  then  I  shall  be  able  to 
get  a  copy  ;  for  I  do  not  know  at  present  the  name  of 
your  publisher.  Colonel  Nugent  sends  his  best  regards, 
and  trusts  that  you  will,  while  abroad,  lay  in  a  store  of  good 
health  for  the  conduct  of  the  next  Liberal  Campaign,  which, 
he  feels  sure,  will  lead  to  victory.  He  is  very  anxious  to 
see  a  cordial  union  and  co-operation  between  the  English 
and  Irish  Liberals  ;  but  he  is  somewhat  doubtful  whether 
the  Dubhn  banquet  to  Mr.  Bright  will  contribute  to  that 
desirable  result.  A  great  deal  will  depend  on  the  character 
of  Mr.  Bright's  speech. 

'  I  went  to  the  Parish  Church  here  last  Sunday,  and  a 
more  melancholy  sight  I  never  beheld.  The  congregation 
consisted  of  five  county  families,  who  spend  the  season  in 
London  ;  so  that  the  congregation  must  consist  in  the 
summer  of  the  Incumbent's  family.  There  were  no  poor, 
and  I  never  saw  so  undevotional  a  congregation.  During 
the  prayers  no  one  knelt.  Some  stood,  with  their  backs 
to  the  altar  and  the  officiating  clergyman,  and  one  knee 
resting  on  the  seat ;  some  sat ;  and  others  rechned  in  the 
half  empty  pews,  nursing  one  leg  stretched  at  full  length 
on  the  cushioned  seat.  During  the  singing  not  more  than 
half  the  congregation  stood  up,  and  the  same  during  the 
reading  of  the  Gospel.  The  more  I  see  of  the  Irish  Church, 
the  more  I  feel  that  there  is  no  life  in  it,  and  that  it  is  simply 
cumbering  the  ground. 


26  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  What  a  pity  that  a  race  so  gifted  and  so  genial  as  the 
Irish  cannot  be  conciHated  and  turned  into  friends  !  The 
racy  sprightliness  of  the  peasantry  is  charming.  It  is 
impossible  to  converse  with  an  Irish  peasant  for  half  an 
hoar  without  hearing  some  sparkling  wit.  He  plays  even 
with  his  own  sorrows,  and  gilds  them  over  with  his  rich 
imagination.  I  had  an  instance  of  this  the  other  day. 
A  poor  Irishman  was  complaining,  with  a  rueful  countenance, 
that  he  w^as  very  hungry,  and  he  summed  up  by  declaring 
that  he  was  "  as  empty  as  a  lantern,  wid  the  divil  a  bit  of 
anything  inside  of  him  but  the  light  of  his  own  conscience," 
Certainly  the  most  poetical  description  of  an  empty  stomach 
I  ever  saw  or  heard  of.' 

The  chief  event  of  1867  was  the  Tory  Reform  Bill, 
by  which  Lord  Derby  and  Disraeli,  having  in  the  previous 
summer  defeated  the  much  more  modest  proposals  of  the 
Liberal  Government,  created  Household  Suffrage  in  the 
towns.  MacColl  was  duly  indignant  at  this  remarkable 
tergiversation,  and  felt  certain  that  many  of  the  Scottish 
Tories,  who  gave  Disraeli  a  triumphal  banquet  in  Edinburgh 
on  October  29,  in  their  hearts  disliked  this  '  glorification  of 
successful  treachery  and  unparalleled  hypocrisy.'  How- 
ever, he  could  bear  no  active  part  in  the  controversies  of 
the  autumn  and  winter,  for,  having  failed  in  his  application 
for  an  Inspectorship  of  Schools,  he  had  been  selected  to  travel 
for  a  year  with  a  son  of  Mr.  J.  G.  Hubbard,  afterwards  Lord 
Addington,  whose  wife  was  a  sister  of  Lord  Napier  and 
Ettrick.  He  spent  the  winter  in  Italy,  and,  when  he  re- 
turned to  England,  he  found  the  country  in  great  excitement 
over  the  prospects  of  the  Estabhshed  Church  in  Ireland. 
Gladstone  had  succeeded  Lord  Russell  as  Leader  of  the 
Liberal  party  at  Christmas  1867,  and  on  March  16,  1868, 
he  announced  his  determination — for  his  speech  amounted 
to  this — to  disestablish  the  Irish  Church.  He  had  fore- 
shadowed something  of  the  kind  in  a  speech  in  Parlia- 
ment in  1865  and  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Hannah;  but  he 
was    then   hampered  by    official   responsibilities,   and   by 


GLADSTONIANISM  27 

membership  of  a  Cabinet  in  which  he  was  not  paramount. 
Now  he  was  his  own  master,  and  he  soon  made  his 
intentions  clear.  Here  was  an  opportunity  after  MacCoU's 
own  heart,  and  he  jumped  at  it.  On  May  30,  1868,  he 
wrote  to  Gladstone  in  the  following  words  : 

'  I  am  anxious  to  write  something  on  the  present 
state  of  affairs,  and  especially  with  the  view  of  showing 
how  thoroughly  consistent  your  present  conduct  is  with 
your  previous  utterances  on  Ecclesiastical  questions.  I 
also  wish  to  show,  from  my  recent  experience  in  Italy, 
that  the  policy  of  our  Bishops  with  respect  to  the 
Irish  Church  is  the  counterpart  of  the  policy  of  the 
Court  of  Rome  in  Italy — a  policy  which  is  driving  the 
whole  Italian  nation  into  infidelity.  And  above  all,  I 
wish  to  do  my  best  to  pay  Disraeli  out  for  his  ridiculous, 
but  really  wicked,  cry  of  a  conspiracy  between  Ritualists 
and  Irish  Romanists.  The  plain  truth  is,  as  I  know  well, 
that  all  the  hot-headed  fools  among  the  Ritualists,  the 
men  who  have  done  all  the  mischief,  have  been  all  along, 
and  are  now,  ardent  supporters  of  Mr.  Disraeli.  Their 
organs,  the  Church  Times,  and  the  Church  Ne^vs,  and  the 
extinct  Union  newspaper,  are  ever  crying  him  up  and 
running  you  down.  The  Church  Times  and  Church  Neu's 
are  still  fighting  his  battle,  and  the  Editor  of  the  latter,  the 
Rev.  F.  G.  Lee,  is  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Disraeli,  and  his 
confidential  adviser  on  Church  matters.  I  shall  take  care 
to  let  the  public  know  this  in  time  for  the  General  Election. 

'  I  paid  a  visit  last  week  to  my  friend  Mr.  Bright  ^  at 
Oxford,  and  to  my  great  joy  found  him  and  several  other 
leading  men  who  were  on  Mr.  G.  Hardy's  Committee  at 
the  Oxford  Election  in  1865,  now  enthusiastic  in  your 
favour  generally,  as  aacII  as  on  the  Irish  Church.  In  fact, 
Mr.  Disraeli  has  made  Liberals  of  them ;  they  are  so 
utterly  disgusted  with  himself  and  his  wretched  govern- 
ment, and  have  lost  all  confidence  in  Mr.  Hardy  and  his 
"  great  swelling  words."  ' 

^  Afterwards  Regius  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History. 


28  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Parliament  was  dissolved  in  November  1868.  The 
result  of  the  General  Election  was  a  majority  of  100  pledged 
to  Irish  Disestablishment,  and  Gladstone  became  for  the 
first  time  Prime  Minister.  On  March  1  he  introduced  his 
Irish  Church  Bill,  of  which  the  cardinal  principles  were 
that  the  Irish  Church  should  cease  to  be  established  ;  that 
its  property,  subject  to  certain  just  reservations,  should  be 
applied  to  purposes  of  secular  beneficence  ;  and  that  there 
should  be  no  '  Concurrent  Endowment '  of  competing  sects, 
although  in  some  important  quarters  this  device  was 
highly  favoured.  MacCoU  immediately  came  forward  with 
a  strong  plea  for  the  Bill,  under  the  title  '  Is  there  not 
a  Cause  ?  ' 

The  Irish  Church  Bill,  substantially  unaltered,  received 
the  Royal  Assent  on  July  26,  1869  ;  and,  only  three 
months  later,  Gladstone  created  what  Bishop  Wilberforce 
called  '  a  very  unwholesome  and  threatening  excitement ' 
by  nominating  Dr.  Temple,  Head  Master  of  Rugby  (and 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury),  for  the  See  of  Exeter. 
People  who  remembered  and  resented  Temple's  connexion 
with  '  Essays  and  Reviews,'  flooded  the  papers  with  protests  ; 
and  none  protested  so  vehemently  as  Dr.  Pusey.  MacCoU 
flew  to  the  support  of  his  leader. 

'October  16,  1869. — Mr.  Cazenove^  knows  Dr.  Temple 
well ;  and,  being  himself  a  very  able  man,  as  well  as  a 
thorough  Churchman,  I  think  his  opinion  is  important. 
I  have  quoted  it  in  a  letter  to  next  week's  Guardian,  but 
without  mentioning  his  name.  I  hope  to  induce  him  to 
write  to  the  Guardian  himself. 

'  I  am  simply  shocked  by  Dr.  Pusey's  letter.  It  is  so 
un-Christian  and  so  unreasoning,  as  well  as  inaccurate  in  one 
or  two  facts.  I  thought  he  was  capable  of  taking  a  more 
enlarged  view  of  such  a  question.  He  will  not  carry  the 
High  Church  party  with  him.  The  Church  Times  of  yester- 
day goes  clean  against  him,  and  the  Church  Revieio  supports 
him  but  lamely  ;  and  I  hope  to  make  its  support  still  lamer 
next  week. 

1  See  p.  24. 


GLADSTONIANISM  29 

'  I  do  not  know  whether  you  would  like  the  Guardian 
to  say  anything  in  particular  next  week.  If  so,  there  will 
be  time,  if  you  will  kindly  write  by  return  of  post.' 

The  principal  business  of  the  Session  of  1870  was 
Gladstone's  Irish  Land  Bill,  and  MacCoU  was  soon  at  work 
in  the  Press,  but  found  himself  not  seldom  hampered  by 
editorial  interference.     On  March  3  he  wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

'  On  reflection,  I  feel  pretty  certain  that  it  must  have 
been  Delane  ^  himself  who  polished  up  my  article.  After 
seeing  Mr,  Glyn  ^  and  talking  with  him  on  the  subject,  I 
came  home  and  jotted  down  the  heads  of  the  sort  of  article 
I  thought  would  answer.  I  then  called  on  the  Editor  in 
the  afternoon,  after  3,  and  talked  the  matter  over  with  him. 
He  said  it  was  a  matter  that  required  consideration,  but 
that  if  I  would  write  such  an  article  as  I  thought  would  do, 
he  would  think  about  it.  I  came  home,  after  calling  on 
the  Editor  of  the  Guardian  in  my  way,  and  could  not  have 
reached  here  before  5.  I  then  sat  down  and  wrote  the 
article  very  hurriedly ;  and,  having  another  article  on 
hand  that  evening,  I  sent  off  the  former  without  looking 
it  over,  and  with  a  note,  saying  that  if  the  Editor  thought 
it  would  do,  and  would  send  it  me  back,  I  would  polish  it 
up  for  publication.  He  made  up  his  mind,  however,  to 
publish  it  the  following  day  ;  and  therefore  he  could  not 
have  had  time  to  send  it  to  anybody  else,  as  he  had  not 
time  to  send  it  to  myself.  He  must  therefore  have  done 
it  himself,' 

A  great  event  of  this  year  was  the  decennial  performance 
of  the  Passion  Play  at  Ober-Ammergau.  That  solemnity 
was  then  little  known  to  English  people,  and  MacColl, 
who  had  been  struck  by  an  account  of  it  in  the  Baroness 
Tautphoeus's  novel,  '  Quits,'  thought  that  it  would  furnish 
good  material  for  some  papers  in  the  Times.  In  reply 
to  his  suggestion,  Delane  wrote  : 

'  I  don't  think  we  can  offer  you  a  mission  to  report  the 
Passion  Play,  but  if  you  are  going  to  make  a  holiday  trip 

\  J,  T.  Delane,  Editor  of  the  Times  from  1841  to  1877. 

-  George  Glyn,  the  Liberal  Whip,  afterwards  Lord  VVoIverton, 


30  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

and  will  send  a  few  letters  to  the  value  of,  say,  £20,  we  should 
be  very  glad  to  have  them.' 

MacCoU  thus  describes  the  journey  : 

'  I  started  with  a  friend,  taking  picturesque  Nuremberg 
by  the  way.  The  first  day  of  the  Passion  Play  that  year 
was  Whit-Sunday,  and  we  arrived  at  Ober-Ammergau  early 
the  previous  Saturday.  The  village  contained  no  hotel 
or  inn  or  restaurant  of  any  sort.  The  visitors  were  dis- 
tributed among  the  inhabitants,  or  encamped  in  the  fields. 
Before  leaving  England  we  had  bespoken  lodgings  at  the 
house  of  the  schoolmaster,  who  was  the  conductor  of  the 
Passion  Play  that  year. 

'  At  that  time,  and  probably  still,  people  were  known 
during  the  period  of  the  Play  by  their  dramatic  names. 
You  lodged  at  the  house  of  Caiaphas  or  Peter,  or  Judas, 
or  a  Pharisee,  as  the  case  might  be.  The  days  preceding 
began  with  Mass  in  the  parish  church.  The  Play  opened 
at  night.  There  was  then  no  permanent  theatre  as  now. 
It  was  a  wooden  structure  open  to  the  sky,  except  a  small 
part  of  the  stage  and  of  the  gallery  in  the  auditorium.  In 
the  front  row  of  this  covered  part  was  a  stately  chair 
intended  for  the  King  of  Bavaria.  But  he  was  not  able  to 
be  present  at  a  first  representation,  and  the  seat  of  honour 
was  given  to  me,  for  it  became  known  that  I  was  to  send 
a  report  to  the  Times.  The  audience  consisted  of  some 
four  thousand  people  ;  all  except  a  very  small  sprinkling 
were  natives  of  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Bavaria,  who  came 
to  fulfil  an  ancestral  vow,  not  to  witness  a  spectacle  :  and 
they  behaved  throughout  as  worshippers,  not  as  spectators. 
The  weather  consisted  of  alternations  of  sunshine  and  thunder- 
storms, but  the  audience,  or  rather  congregation,  sat  through 
it  all  drenched  to  the  skin.  No  notes  were  allowed  to  be 
taken  visibly.  But,  favoured  by  the  amplitude  of  my  seat, 
I  was  able  to  write  down  hurriedly  the  leading  features  and 
incidents  of  the  play.  After  it  was  over,  I  returned  to 
Munich  and  wrote  my  report  of  the  whole  performance  to 
Delane.  .  .  .  The  greater  part  of  my  report  appeared  the 


GLADSTONIANISM  31 

following  day,  and  filled  a  whole  page  of  the  Times.  The 
remainder,  which  filled  nearly  half  a  page,  appeared  two  days 
afterwards.  It  was  published  as  "  from  an  Occasional 
Correspondent,"  and  I  received  a  cheque  for  £35  instead  of 
the  £20  which  Delane  had  promised  me.  Very  few  people 
in  England  at  that  time  knew  anything  about  the  Ober- 
Ammergau  Play,  and  my  report  of  it  took  the  public  by 
surprise.  Delane  forwarded  to  me  many  letters  which 
were  addressed  to  him,  expressing  the  hope  that  my  anony- 
mous report  might  be  published  separately  ;  so  I  asked 
Delane's  permission  to  publish  it.  He  consented,  and 
I  republished  my  report  accordingly  in  the  form  of  a  small 
book,  with  an  Introduction  on  Miracle  Plays  and  Passion 
Plays,  longer  than  the  report  itself.  The  book  went 
rapidly  through  many  editions,  and,  the  Times  being  read 
by  everybody,  crowds  immediately  started  for  Ober-Ammer- 
gau,  and  other  newspapers  sent  special  reporters.  I  have 
sometimes  regretted  since  then  that  I  ever  published  a  report 
of  the  Play.  For,  although  I  am  told  that  the  villagers 
still  retain  their  simple  habits  and  religious  character, 
it  is  scarcely  in  human  nature  not  to  have  some  of  the 
fervour  taken  out  of  their  enthusiasm.  But  doubtless  the 
interval  of  ten  years  helps  to  prevent  the  representation 
being  vulgarized  or  made  commonplace  :  it  will  ever  live 
in  my  memory  as  the  most  Avonderful  combination  of 
reverence  and  splendid  dramatic  acting  of  the  most  subhme 
scenes  in  the  history  of  mankind.  It  would  seem  impossible 
beforehand — it  certainly  seemed  to  me — to  act  the  part  of 
the  Christus  especially,  without  shocking  one's  feelings  of 
reverence  and  religious  propriety.  But  that  part  was  so 
wonderfully  acted  as  not  to  grate  even  upon  the  most 
sensitive  mind.  I  suppose  the  explanation  of  this  is  that 
the  dramatis  'personcB  acted  their  various  parts  with  an 
entire  absence  of  self-consciousness.  They  were  not  acting 
a  play  but  performing  a  series  of  acts  of  devotion. 

'  The  Franco-German  War  broke  out  two  months  before 
the  Play  was  to  have  been  finished,  and  it  had  thus  to  be 
stopped  in  the  middle,  for  the  men  liable  for  service  had 


32  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  join  the  army  ;  the  Christus,  in  consideration  of  the 
part  he  played,  was  sent  to  attend  the  wounded  in  the 
hospitals.  Certain  local  charities  are  supported  by  the 
profits  of  the  Play,  and  on  this  account  the  performance 
was  allowed  to  be  repeated  the  following  year.  I  went  to 
see  it  a  second  time  ;  and  I  may  express  my  feeling  of  the 
difference  between  the  two  representations  by  the  difference 
between  a  worshipping  congregation  and  a  well-behaved 
and  decorous  audience  of  spectators.  Most  of  the  audience 
on  the  second  occasion  were  foreigners  from  many  lands, 
while  on  the  first  occasion  they  were  native  to  the 
soil.' 

On  July  16,  1870,  MacColl  wrote  thus  to  Gladstone: 

'  I  saw  a  good  deal  of  Dr.  Dolhnger  during  the  four  days 
I  spent  in  Munich  on  my  way  to  Ober-Ammergau.   .   .   . 

'  Dr.  Dollinger  wished  me  to  send  his  kind  regards  to  you, 
and  I  rather  gathered  from  what  he  said  that  a  letter  of 
sympathy  from  you  would  be  very  gratifying  to  him.  He 
is  at  present  busily  engaged  on  a  work  on  the  Papacy.  He 
showed  me  the  plan  of  the  book,  and  I  should  think  it 
will  make  a  sensation  when  it  appears.  The  work  is  to 
appear  in  parts,  and  in  the  form  of  historical  letters,  so  as 
to  enable  him  to  deal  with  a  great  variety  of  subjects  while 
aiming  at  a  certain  degree  of  unity.  Dr.  Dollinger  is 
confident  that  liis  cause  will  triumph  in  the  end,  though 
probably  long  after  he  has  left  the  scene. 

'  I  was  much  impressed  while  in  Germany  with  the  way 
in  which  the  people,  soldiers  and  civiHans  alike,  bear  their 
triumph  over  France.  I  saw  everywhere  a  feehng  of  quiet 
satisfaction  that  the  unity  of  Germany  was  secured.  But 
there  was  no  bravado  and  no  thirst  for  miHtary  glory  or 
foreign  aggression.  Through  the  parts  of  the  country 
which  I  have  traversed  the  yearning  everywhere  was  for 
an  enduring  peace.  As  far  as  I  could  judge,  Bismarck  is 
admired,  but  not  loved,  and  I  have  heard  the  old  King's 
pious  despatches  more  than  once  severely  criticized.  The 
praises  of  the  Crown  Prince,  on  the  other  hand,  are  in 
everyone's  mouth.' 


GLADSTONIANISM  33 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  September  9,  1871. — The  enclosed  extract  from  the  Rock 
may  amuse  you.  I  never  knew  before  that  I  was  presented 
to  my  present  living  for  having  written  the  famous  article 
in  the  Edinburgh  Review.  Indeed,  it  was  new  to  me  that 
I  was  even  suspected  of  having  written  it ;  but  I  am  now 
told  that  I  am  generally  credited  with  the  authorship  !  ' 

This  letter  requires  a  word  of  comment.  In  April  1871 
MacColl  was  presented  by  Gladstone  to  the  benefice  of 
St.  George's,  Botolph  Lane,  in  the  City  of  London.  The 
'  famous  article  '  to  which  the  Rock  attributed  his  prefer- 
ment was  really  written  by  Gladstone.  It  appeared  in 
October  1870,  under  the  title  of  '  Germany,  France,  and 
England '  ;  and  Gladstone  said  subsequently  that  he  had 
intended  it  to  be  really,  as  well  as  formally,  anonymous. 
But  it  was  not  odd  that  MacColl  should  have  got  the  credit 
of  it,  for  he  had  published,  as  '  Scrutator,'  a  pamphlet 
on  the  same  subject,  called  '  Who  is  Responsible  for 
the  War  ?  ' 

It  seems,  in  the  retrospect,  that  in  accepting  St.  George's, 
MacColl  acted  unwisely.  He  was  not  well  fitted  for  the 
position  of  a  parish  priest.  He  was  an  eloquent  and  forcible 
preacher,  and,  though  he  always  disclaimed  the  title  of 
'  ritualist,'  he  had  a  keen  sense  for  beauty  and  propriety  in 
the  services  of  the  Church.  But  his  disposition  was  not 
pastoral.  He  shrank  from  that  personal  dealing  with  in- 
dividual souls  which  is  the  most  vital  portion  of  the  pastor's 
work.  His  feeling  on  this  point  may  best  be  given  in  his 
own  words  : 

'  Perhaps  I  may,  without  impertinence,  give  my  own 
experience.  I  have  never  invited  anyone  to  confess  to  me, 
except  in  the  ordinary  course  of  reading  the  Exhortation  in 
the  Communion  Service,  and  I  have,  in  the  whole  course 
of  my  ministerial  career,  received  the  confessions  of  just 
three  persons.  These  I  received  reluctantly  and  unavoid- 
ably. But  many  persons  have  asked  me  to  receive  their 
confessions.     It  is  a  task  from  which  I  have  always  shrunk. 


34  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

and,  as  nearly  the  whole  of  my  ministerial  life  has  been  spent 
in  London,  I  have  been  able  to  avail  myself  of  the  alternative 
offered  in  the  Prayer  Book,  by  sending  those  who  come  to 
me  "  to  some  other  discreet  and  learned  minister  of  God's 
Word."  But,  if  I  had  been  an  incumbent  where  this 
alternative  was  not  possible,  I  should  certainly  feel  bound 
to  hear  the  confessions  of  all  who  came  to  me,  much  as 
I  should  dislike  it.' 

Apart  from  these  considerations,  MacColl's  incessant 
absorption  in  journalism  and  controversy  left  him  little 
leisure  for  clerical  work  on  weekdays,  and  he  was  not  inclined 
to  reside  in  the  City.  His  own  account  of  his  work  at 
St.  George's  is  dismal  enough.  On  March  1,  1875,  he  wrote 
to  Gladstone  for  counsel : 

'  The  utter  hopelessness  of  being  able  to  do  any  good  in 
my  parish  has  been  weighing  on  my  mind  for  some  time, 
and  I  have  been  debating  with  myself  whether  I  ought  not 
to  resign  my  living.  I  feel,  however,  that  I  ought  not  to 
take  any  step  of  that  sort  without  consulting  you,  as  it  is 
to  your  kindness  that  I  owe  my  present  position.  What 
do  you  think  ?  I  have  hardly  got  any  resident  population, 
and  the  few  there  are,  are  becoming  steadily  fewer.  The 
consequence  is  that  I  have  no  parish  work  at  all ;  and  the 
position  of  my  little  church — in  an  obscure  narrow  lane — 
renders  it  useless  for  weekday  services.  I  have  tried  to 
turn  it  to  use  in  a  variety  of  ways,  but  without  success. 
Is  it  right  for  me  to  draw  pay  from  a  parish  where  I  am 
really  doing  no  work  ?  In  the  event  of  my  resigning  my 
living,  I  have  some  idea  of  joining  the  Central  African 
Mission,  as  there  would  seem  to  be  no  particular  work  for 
me  to  do  at  home.' 

But  in  the  following  year  a  new  and  unlooked-for  work 
presented  itself,  which  must  be  described  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ECCLESIASTICA 

Next  to  a  sound  rule  of  faith,  there  is  nothing  of  so  much  consequence  as 
a  sober  standard  of  feeling  in  matters  of  practical  religion. — John  Keble. 

Between  the  years  1870  and  1877  a  great  portion  of 
MacColl's  activity  was  absorbed  by  ecclesiastical  business. 
In  1871  Archbishop  Tait,  co-operating  with  Dean  Stanley, 
began  a  campaign  against  the  public  use  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed.  Pusey  and  Liddon  were  the  protagonists  of  those 
who  resisted  the  Archbishop,  and  MacCoIl  fought  strenuously 
on  the  same  side.  In  1872  he  published  a  Letter,  addressed 
to  Gladstone,  on  '  The  Damnatory  Clauses  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed  Rationally  Explained  '  ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  1873 
he  took  an  active  part  in  organizing  a  Public  Meeting  in 
defence  of  the  Creed.  He  was  justly  complimented  on  the 
success  of  an  effort  Avhich  united  theologians  so  diverse 
as  Lord  Salisbury  and  Charles  Kingsley,  and  the  protest 
proved  victorious. 

On  February  21,  1873,  he  wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

'  I  am  astounded  at  Dean  Stanley's  speeches  on  the 
Athanasian  Creed,  reported  in  this  week's  Guardian.  The 
tone  of  them  is  abominable,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  acquit 
him  of  deliberate  dishonesty.  I  am  very  sorry  to  say  this, 
for  I  like  him  personally.  But  he  appears  to  me  to  be 
utterly  unscrupulous  on  this  question,' 

But  even  the  excitement  of  the  Athanasian  battle 
did  not  distract  his  attention   from   the  fortunes  of  the 

35  D  2 


36  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Church  in  Oxford.  The  Regius  Professorship  of  Pastoral 
Theology  became  vacant  on  February  17.  Next  day 
MacCoU  wrote  to  Gladstone,  enclosing  a  letter  from  his 
former  tutor,  Dr.  Bright,  who  strongly  urged  the  merits 
of  Edward  King,  then  Principal  of  Cuddesdon  Theological 
College,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Lincoln  : 

'  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  let  you  read  the  enclosed  letter, 
though  I  hardly  like  to  take  the  liberty  of  doing  so. 

'  I  can  corroborate  all  that  Dr.  Bright  says  about  Canon 
King.  His  power  over  young  men  is,  as  Dr.  Bright  says, 
really  "  magnetic."  Am  I  not  right  in  thinking  that  your 
son,  the  Rector  of  Hawarden,  was  at  Cuddesdon  ?  If  so, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  he  felt  the  spell  of  Canon  King's 
influence.  There  never  was  a  time,  I  think,  when  the 
power  of  personal  influence  was  more  needed  at  Oxford 
than  now.  But  Pusey  will  soon  go,  and,  anyhow,  his 
work  is  done.  The  doctors  tell  Liddon  that  Oxford  is 
killing  him,  and  that  his  stay  there  is  at  the  risk  of  his  life. 
When  Liddon  goes  there  will  be  no  one  left  to  supply 
his  place  in  the  way  of  personal  influence.  King  could 
do  so. 

'  I  feel  that  I  am  taking  a  great  liberty  in  thus  writing 
to  you.  But  I  do  feel  so  keenly  the  influence  for  good  that 
a  man  like  Canon  King  might  exercise  on  the  rising  genera- 
tion from  the  position  of  an  Oxford  Professor.' 

'  February  19. — The  enclosed  was  not  intended  for  your 
eye  ;  but  I  hope  you  will  not  object  to  my  sending  it 
to  you.  Dr.  Bright's  long  experience  at  Oxford,  first  as  a 
College  tutor,  and  then  as  a  Professor,  must  have  given 
him  a  good  insight  into  the  needs  of  the  undergraduate 
mind.  His  reference  to  Mr.  Plumptre^  is  in  answer  to  a 
letter  I  wrote  to  him  yesterday,  in  which  I  said  that  I  had 
heard  Mr.  Plumptre's  name  mentioned  for  the  Chair  of  Pas- 
toral Theology,  and  that  I  thought  him  a  most  unfit  man. 
The  contrast  between  Mr.  Plumptre  and  Mr.  King  at  the 
Leeds  Congress  was  most  striking.  The  former  set  every- 
body by  the  ears.     The  Low  Church  party  fairly  hooted  him 

'  E.  H.  Plumptre,  afterwards  Dean  of  Wells. 


ECCLESIASTICA  37 

down,  and  refused  to  hear  him  out.  The  latter  (Mr.  King) 
had  not  spoken  five  minutes  when  he  had  the  whole  audience, 
of  five  thousand  people,  bending  under  the  spell  of  his  moral 
power  like  a  field  of  corn  before  the  wind.  He  seemed 
to  me  to  realize,  if  it  is  not  profane  to  make  the  comparison, 
the  saying  of  the  Gospel,  that  "  Virtue  had  gone  out  of  him  " 
to  calm  the  excited  passions  of  the  multitude. 

'  Dr.  Bright's  reference  to  your  Liverpool  speech  ^  is 
very  genuine.  This  is  the  second  time  he  has  written  to 
me  about  it.' 

King  was  appointed  to  the  vacant  chair,  and  on 
February  25  MacCoU  wrote  to  the  Prime  Minister  : 

'  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  add  my  own  most  sincere  thanks 
to  those  of  Dr.  Bright  for  the  invaluable  service  you  have 
done  to  the  Church  of  England  by  the  appointment  of 
Mr.  King  to  the  Chair  of  Pastoral  Theology.' 

During  the  winter  of  1873-4  MacColl  spent  some  time 
in  Italy,  and  returned  to  find  Gladstone  dislodged  from 
the  Premiership  by  the  General  Election  of  February 
1874.  On  April  20  Archbishop  Tait,  acting  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Archbishop  Thomson  of  York,  introduced  into 
the  House  of  Lords  his  ill-starred  '  Pubhc  Worship 
Regulation  Bill.'  Objectionable  in  itself,  it  was  rendered 
much  more  offensive,  during  its  passage  through  the 
House  of  Lords,  by  Lord  Shaftesbury  and  Lord  Cairns. 
Disraeli,  who  was  now  Prime  Minister,  welcomed  it  with 
effusion,  because  he  thought  it  popular.  '  This,'  he  said, 
'  is  a  Bill  to  put  down  Ritualism.' 

On  June  1 1  MacColl  wrote  thus  to  his  leader  : 

'  The  Dean  of  York  -  declares  that,  if  a  General  Election 
took  place  now,  not  a  single  Conservative  candidate  would 
have  the  least  chance  throughout  Yorkshire  ;  so  indignant 
are  the  clergy  at  the  conduct  of  the  Government  in  helping 
forward  this  Bill  of  the  two  Archbishops. 

'  What  fools  the  managers  of  the  Liberal  Press  are  ! 

^  On  Rationalism,  delivered  at  Liverpool  College,  December  21.  1872. 
^  The  Hon.  Augustus  Duncotnbe. 


38  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Whenever  the  clergy  threaten  a  revolt  against  their  tradi- 
tional party,  the  Liberal  Press  whips  them  back.  If, 
instead  of  reviling  the  clergy  and  abusing  Convocation, 
the  Telegraph  had  at  this  moment  claimed  justice  for  the 
clergy — such  justice  as  is  freely  accorded  to  Dissenting 
sects  and  to  the  Established  Kirk  in  Scotland — the  breach 
between  the  Tories  and  a  large  section  of  the  clergy  would 
become  irreparable.  But  the  effect  of  the  articles  in  the 
Telegraph  is  to  convince  men  like  Dr.  Bright  that  you  are 
the  only  Liberal  leader  who  would  do  them  justice.  As 
it  is,  your  leadership  of  the  Liberal  party  has  detached  a 
large  portion  of  the  High  Church  party  from  the  Tories. 
Many  a  High  Church  Clergyman,  who  never  gave  a  Liberal 
vote  before,  voted  for  the  Liberals  at  the  last  Election. 
The  Ritualists  as  a  body  did  so.  And  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  Education  League  ^  many  more  High  Churchmen 
would  have  voted  to  keep  you  in  office.' 

'  August  4,  1874. — I  am  surprised  that  Sir  William  Har- 
court's  portentous  ignorance  as  to  the  Canon  Law  has  been 
allowed  to  pass  unnoticed.  W^as  there  no  lawyer  in  the 
House  of  Commons  with  sufficient  respect  for  his  profession 
to  save  it  from  the  stigma  cast  upon  it  by  Sir  William 
Harcourt's  speech  ?  ^ 

'  With  regard  to  the  Bill  itself,  I  believe  that  it  has  brought 
the  disestablishment  of  the  Church  of  England  to  our  doors  ; 
unless  indeed,  like  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act,  it  remains 
a  dead  letter.  Another  result  of  the  Bill  will,  I  believe 
and  trust,  be  the  separation  of  the  great  body  of  the  High 
Church  clergy  from  the  Tory  party.  I  believe  also  that 
the  wisdom  of  your  policy  will  be  recognized  by  the  country 
when  the  real  bearings  of  the  Bill  come  to  be  understood.' 

The  Bill  became  law  on  August  7,  but  MacColl  carried 
his  ecclesiastical  interests  with  him  to  Scotland,  where  he 
spent  his  autumn  holiday. 

^  Started  in  1871  to  promote  Secular  Education  in  Elementary  Schools. 
-  A  speech  in  support  of  the  P.W.R.  Bill  and  in  opposition  to  Gladstone's 
amendments. 


ECCLESIASTICA  39 

'  Glamis  Castle,  Forfarshire,  September  14. — I  think  it 
would  be  of  great  importance,  in  more  respects  than  one, 
that  Dr.  Dollinger  should  come  over  to  England  after  the 
Bonn  Conference.  If  he  would  attend  the  Brighton  Church 
Congress,  so  much  the  better.  He  half  promised  me  to 
do  so  when  I  saw  him  in  Munich  last  April. 

'  If  you  agree  with  me  that  some  personal  intercourse 
between  Dr.  Dolhnger  and  some  of  our  Bishops  would  be 
useful  to  both  parties  at  the  present  moment,  perhaps 
you  would  not  mind  writing  to  Dr.  Dollinger  to  that 
effect,  A  letter  from  you  would  have  much  influence 
with  him. 

'  Have  you  seen  a  book  called  "  Supernatural  Religion  "  ? 
Both  its  arguments  against  miracles  and  against  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Gospels  do  not  strike  me  as  at  all  strong. 
I  was  surprised  to  see  the  Spectator  praise  it  so  highly. 

'  Mr.  Motley  the  historian  is  here  just  now.  He  looks 
very  much  broken  in  health.  He  is  forbidden  to  read 
anything  but  light  novels,  and  he  is  not  allowed  to  write 
at  all,  and  is  somewhat  depressed  in  consequence.  But 
he  is  most  agreeable  notwithstanding.' 

By  October  1  MacColl  was  back  again  in  London. 

'November  14,  1874, — They  told  me  at  the  Vatican  that 
your  pamphlet  on  the  Neapolitan  prisons  had  destroyed  the 
Bourbon  regime  and  in  fact  established  Italian  unity.  I  shall 
not  be  surprised  to  learn  by  and  by  that  your  pamphlet  on 
the  Vatican  Decrees  ^  has  given  the  Ultramontane  Philoctetes 
his  fatal  wound.  It  has  disclosed,  and  will  disclose  more 
and  more,  the  hollo wness  of  that  superficial  unity  of  which 
Manning  boasts.  The  fact  of  the  Council  having  been  only 
adjourned  leaves  a  loop-hole  for  reconsidering  the  Decrees. 
Manning  has  denied  the  possibility  of  this,  of  course.  But 
several  Italian  ecclesiastics,  to  say  nothing  of  others,  wel- 
come it  as  a  means  of  escape  after  the  death  of  the  present 
Pope.     I  wrote  a  very  hurried  notice  of  your  pamphlet  in 

^  The  Vatican  Decrees  in  their  bearing  on  Civil  Allegiance  :    a  political 
expostulation,  published  November  1874. 


40  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

the  Guardian,  and  a  few  misprints  have  made  it  even  more 
crude  than  when  it  left  my  hands.   .   .   . 

'  How  amusing  the  rage  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  is  ! 
But  it  is  very  intelligible.  The  Pall  Mall  wishes  to  root  up 
the  very  foundations  of  Cliristianity,  and  the  Vatican 
Decrees  are  useful  auxiliaries  to  it  in  that  enterprise. 

''December  17,  1874. — I  heard  a  very  bad  account  of 
Disraeli's  health  the  other  day  at  Mr.  Beresford-Hope's. 
Those  who  are  obliged  to  see  a  good  deal  of  him  seem  to 
think  that  he  is  breaking  up.  What  a  singular  career  his 
has  been  !  I  have  no  wish  to  say  anything  uncharitable 
of  him  ;  but  I  confess  I  could  not  conscientiously  help  regard- 
ing his  death  as  the  removal  of  a  sinister  influence  from 
English  politics  and  from  English  life.  He  has  done  much 
to  debauch  the  minds  of  our  youth  by  making  mere  success, 
without  the  least  regard  to  principle,  the  sole  aim  of  life. 
I  know  no  figure  in  English  politics  who  inspires  me  with 
more  genuine  aversion. 

'  I  do  not  believe  that  this  Government  is  destined  to  be 
long-lived.  I  have  always  thought  that  they  would  not 
survive  their  third  year  of  office.' 

'  January  24,  1875. — ^Your  resignation  of  the  leadership 
of  the  Liberal  party  ^  was  at  first  a  great  shock  to  me  ; 
but  now  I  am  glad  of  it.  The  Liberals  have  been  very 
ungrateful  for  what  you  have  done  for  them,  and  now 
they  will  find  what  it  is  to  be  without  you.  I  confess 
that  it  is  with  a  feeling  of  malicious  pleasure  that  I 
observe  their  dismay.  The  nation  at  large,  too,  will  see 
with  clearer  vision  all  that  you  have  done  for  it,  when 
you  stand  aside  from  the  heat  and  dust  of  party  war- 
fare ;  and  when  a  crisis  takes  place,  or  any  great  question 
requires  to  be  settled,  I  believe  that  the  country  will  again 
call  upon  you  to  take  the  management  of  affairs,  however 
reluctant  you  may  be  to  do  so.  I  suppose  that  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  if  he  had  hved,  would  have  been  Prime  Minister  in 
1852  instead  of  Lord  Aberdeen. 

'  Announced  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Granville  on  January  13,  1875. 


ECCLESIASTICA  41 

'  The  Guardiaii  contradicted,  on  what  appeared  to  the 
Editor  internal  evidence,  an  assertion  in  the  Athenceum 
that  you  were  the  author  of  the  article  on  Bishop  Patteson 
in  the  Quarterly.  The  Athenceum,  however,  repeats  its 
assertion.'  i 

'  March  3,  1875. — I  have  just  read  the  Guardiarv's  review 
of  your  pamphlet,-  and  I  think  it  miserable.  It  does  not 
bring  out  your  points  at  all.  Your  argument  from  the 
Council  of  Constance,  for  example,  is  to  my  mind  one  of 
the  most  teUing  things  I  ever  read. 

'  I  intended  to  have  reviewed  the  pamphlet  myself. 
But  I  have  to  deliver  four  lectures  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral 
this  week,  beginning  with  to-night,  and  I  did  not  like  to 
undertake  your  pamphlet  for  fear  of  not  doing  it  justice 
from  want  of  time.  But  I  think  I  could  have  done  more 
justice  to  it  than  this  meagre  review.  Liddon  is  delighted 
with  it,  and  thinks  it  will  be  of  immense  service  in  our 
controversy  with  Rome.' 

In  August  1875  MacColl,  accompanying  Liddon,  attended 
the  second  Conference  on  Reunion  at  Bonn.  He  had  been 
prevented  by  illness  from  attending  the  Conference  of  1874. 

On  the  13th  he  wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

'  Dr.  Dollinger  read  yesterday,  in  one  of  the  public 
sittings  of  the  Conference,  a  very  good  letter  from  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester,^  and  then  he  handed  me  your  letter,  and 
asked  me  to  read  it,  as  he  said  that  I  could  read  your  hand- 
writing with  greater  ease  than  he  could.  I  had  told  him, 
the  day  before,  that  though  you  did  not  object  to  the  publica- 
tion of  your  letter  among  the  transactions  of  the  Conference, 
you  thought  it  better  that  it  should  not  be  pubhshed  just 
now  in  the  newspapers.  Before  reading  it,  therefore,  I 
stated,  for  the  information  of  the  reporters,  that  it  was  not 
to  be  published.  The  Times  reporter  promised  me  after- 
wards that  he  should  not  report  it.     But  I  had  no  access 

*  And  it  was  true.    The  article  appeared  in  October  1874. 
-  Vaticanism  :     an  answer  to  replies  and  reproofs,  published   February 
1875. 

^  E.  Harold  Browne. 


42  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  any  other  reporters,  and  I  fear  that  they  may  report  your 
letter,  and  perhaps  not  accurately.  Would  it  not  be  better 
therefore  under  the  circumstances  to  let  your  letter  appear 
in  the  Guardian^ s  report  of  the  Conference  ?  It  was  listened 
to  with  marked  attention,  and  Liddon  thinks  that  it  covers 
the  ground  so  completely  that,  unless  you  see  some  serious 
objection,  it  ought  to  be  published  at  once.  If  you  agree, 
will  you  kindly  drop  me  a  note  addressed  to  12  Chester 
Terrace,  S.W.  ?  I  shall  be  back  in  town,  I  hope,  next 
Tuesday.  There  are  twenty  Orientals  here,  including  two 
Bishops  ;  and  some  of  them  are  very  able  and  learned. 
They  have  been  here  since  Saturday,  and  have  employed 
the  time  in  diligently  discussing  the  question,  partly  among 
themselves,  and  partly  with  the  Old  Catholics.  Yesterday 
morning  was  the  first  public  Session  of  the  Conference. 
Dollinger  presided,  and  opened  the  discussion  with  a 
masterly  review  of  the  whole  question  in  a  speech  (entirely 
ex  tempore)  occupying  an  hour  and  a  half.  He  was  followed 
by  Professor  Ossinine  from  St.  Petersburg,  who  expounded 
the  Oriental  view  in  a  speech  of  considerable  subtility. 
In  the  afternoon  the  discussion  was  in  English,  and  we  did 
little  more  than  clear  the  ground  for  serious  argument. 
Dollinger  has  drawn  up  a  most  able  statement  of  the  Western 
view  in  a  series  of  propositions  in  language  extracted  from 
the  writing  of  the  principal  Greek  Fathers.  This  paper  is 
to  form  the  subject  of  discussion  to-day,  and  I  think  it  will 
place  the  Orientals  in  a  dilemma.  The  Germans  and  Enghsh 
have  agreed  to  accept  it,  and  even  to  admit  one  important 
concession  to  the  Greeks,  who,  on  the  other  hand,  will  find  it 
difiicult  to  reject  as  heterodox  a  confession  of  faith  framed 
in  the  ipsissima  verba  of  their  own  Fathers.  The  Greeks 
have  declared  that  if  we  agree  on  the  subject  of  the  Filioque, 
they  see  nothing  else  which  need  divide  us.  It  is  a  great 
gain  to  have  Liddon  here.  But  I  wish  we  had  one  of  the 
English  Bishops  for  the  look  of  the  thing.' 

The  Public  Worship  Regulation  Act  came  into  operation 
on  July  1,  1875,  and  the  Puritan  party,  eagerly  avaihng 
themselves  of  the  new  weapon  which  the  Archbishops  had 


ECCLESIASTICA  43 

placed  in  their  hands,  began  that  scandalous  series  of 
religious  prosecutions  which  lasted  for  the  next  ten  years. 
The  Liberal  Press,  being  partly  engineered  by  Puritans  and 
partly  by  Agnostics,  forsook  the  faith  of  religious  liberty, 
and  backed  the  persecuting  party.  On  January  8,  1877, 
MacColl  wrote  thus  to  the  editor  of  the  Daily  News  : 

*  I  am  not  a  Ritualist  myself,  and  I  dislike  much  of  what 
goes  on  under  the  name  of  Ritualism.  But  the  question  in 
this  case  is  not,  to  my  mind,  a  question  of  Ritualism  at  all, 
but  of  equality  before  the  law.  What  I  am  looking  at  now 
is  the  political  aspect  of  this  question.  The  Pubhc  Worship 
Regulation  Act  has  detached  from  the  Tory  party  a  larger 
section  of  Conservatives,  lay  and  clerical,  than  probably 
you  are  at  all  aware  of.  Some  of  them  have  become  en- 
thusiastic Disestablishmentarians  ;  and  others  would  sup- 
port a  Liberal  candidate,  and  let  him  take  his  own  line  as  to 
Disestablishment.  Many  of  them  are  now  being  driven  back 
into  the  ranks  of  the  Conservative  party  by  the  conduct  of 
the  Liberal  Press.  Let  me  give  you  an  example  :  A  peer  of 
old  title  and  large  estate  told  me  not  long  ago  that  he  would 
not  walk  across  the  street  to  save  the  Estabhshment  at 
the  next  Election.  Yet  he  is  an  hereditary  Tory  and  was 
made  Lord-Lieutenant  of  his  County  by  Disraeli.  He  is  a 
moderate  High  Churchman.  Now  he  tells  me  that  the  con- 
duct of  the  Liberal  Press  on  the  Ritualistic  question  has 
convinced  him  that  the  evils  of  State-connexion  are  less 
than  the  tyranny  promoted  by  the  Liberal  Press. 

'  Surely  the  line  for  the  Liberal  Press  to  take  would  be 
to  admit  the  justice  of  the  Ritualistic  case  when  it  is  just, 
and  then  take  any  line  it  pleased.  But  this  determination 
to  single  them  out  as  special  reprobates  among  a  multitude 
of  greater  reprobates  (if  Lawlessness  be  the  test)  is  killing 
their  nascent  Liberalism,  and  injuring  most  seriously  the 
Liberal  cause  in  the  next  General  Election.  The  Ritualists 
and  their  sympathizers  are  strong  enough  to  turn  the 
scales,  as  they  did  the  other  day  at  Frome.^     But,  if  the 

^  H.  B.  Samuelson,  Liberal,  defeated  Sir  James  Fergiisson,  Conservative, 
at  a  by-election  for  Frome,  November  187G. 


44  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Liberal  Press  will  persist  in  treating  them  with  Turkish 
justice,  they  are  not  unlikely  to  make  peace  with  the 
authorities  of  the  Estabhshment  by  curtaihng  their  ritual, 
rather  than  face  the  tender  mercies  of  such  Liberalism  as 
they  are  now  experiencing. 

'  I  regret  this  sincerely  ;  for  I  wish  to  see  the  Liberals 
back  in  power  almost  at  any  cost.  I  think  Dizzy's  regime 
so  insufferably  demoralizing  all  round.' 


\ 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    EASTERN    QUESTION 

Not  merely  armed  men,  but  young  women  and  girls  and  babes,  counted 
by  hundreds,  counted  by  thousands,  subjected  to  the  most  refined  cruelties, 
subjected   to   the   last  indignities,   have  been   the   victims   of  the   Turk. — 

H.  P.  LiDDON. 

In  the  autumn  of  1875  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Bulgaria, 
and  the  Turkish  Government  despatched  a  large  force  to 
suppress  it.  This  was  soon  done,  and  the  suppression  was 
followed  by  a  hideous  orgy  of  massacre  and  outrage.  In 
1876  a  rumour  of  these  horrors  reached  England,  and  public 
indignation  spontaneously  awoke,  Disraeli  (who  now  became 
Lord  Beaconsfield)  sneered  at  the  rumour  as  '  Coffee-house 
babble,'  and  made  odious  jokes  about  the  Oriental  way  of 
executing  malefactors.  But  Christian  England  was  not  to 
be  pacified  with  these  Asiatic  pleasantries  ;  and  some  of 
those  who  sympathized  most  keenly  with  the  persecuted 
worshippers  of  Christ  in  Eastern  Europe,  determined  to 
test  the  horrible  reports  by  personal  investigation.  Among 
these  was  Dr.  Liddon  (who  preached  at  St.  Paul's,  on 
August  13,  a  splendid  sermon  on  our  national  duty  at 
this  crisis),  and  he  chose  for  his  travelling  companion 
Malcolm  MacColl.  At  such  a  moment  MacColl  of  course 
communicated  with  his  leader. 

'  Dr.  Liddon  and  myself  have  some  intention  of  going  as 
near  as  we  can  to  the  seat  of  war  in  the  East  next  September, 
in  order  to  sift  for  ourselves  the  stories  of  Turkish  atrocities. 
I  believe  that  they  are  substantially  accurate,  and  the 
shameful  efforts  of  Dizzy  and  Lord  Derby  to  palliate  them 
are  intolerable.     Lord  Derby's  assertion  that  the  British 

45 


46  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

fleet  was  sent  to  Besika  Bay  merely  to  protect  British  sub- 
jects and  calm  the  fears  of  excited  Ambassadors,  looks  to  me 
like  a  cynical  exhibition  of  scarcely  disguised  mendacity.' 

*  August  21,  1876. — Dr.  Liddon  and  myself  intend  to 
start  for  Servia  at  the  end  of  the  month.  .  .  .  We  intend 
to  write  our  experiences  to  some  organs  in  the  London 
Press.  Do  you  think  you  could  kindly  give  us  any 
introductions  in  Vienna  or  Belgrade  ?  or  to  any  members 
of  the  Austrian  or  Russian  Legation  in  London  ? 

'  Disraeli  (I  wish  he  was  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the 
Bashi-Bazouks)  seems  to  me  to  have  played,  and  to  be  play- 
ing still,  the  game  of  Russia  with  extraordinary  dexterity. 
For  my  own  part,  I  would  rather  see  Russia  in  possession  of 
Constantinople  than  the  continuance  of  the  status  quo  in 
European  Turkey.  But,  putting  considerations  of  humanity 
out  of  the  question,  surely  the  true  English  policy  would 
be  to  encourage  the  gradual  formation  of  a  belt  of  Christian 
States  between  Russia  and  Constantinople.  But  that  is 
the  policy  which  Disraeli  is  doing  his  very  best  to  render 
impossible. 

'  How  little  of  an  Englishman  that  clever  charlatan  is, 
after  all !  I  believe  that  his  power  was  on  the  wane  in  any 
case.  But  he  has  thrown  away  whatever  chance  he  had 
by  becoming  Earl  of  Beaconsfield.  I  feel  indignant  that 
a  title  which  Burke  had  chosen  should  be  appropriated 
by  such  a  man  as  Disraeli ;  and  I  can  remember  nothing 
more  humiliating  than  the  chorus  of  adulation  with  which 
the  Press  has  greeted  his  elevation  to  what  I  trust  will  prove 
his  political  extinction.  I  don't  believe  for  a  moment  that 
he  has  any  intention  of  resigning  the  Premiership.  Those 
who  think  so  misread  the  character  of  the  man.  He  wishes 
to  go  down  to  posterity  as  having  led  both  Houses  of 
Parhament.  I  doubt  whether  the  peers  will  appreciate  his 
leadership.  For  myself,  I  hope  he  will  not  give  up  the 
Premiership.  If  he  is  Premier  at  the  next  General  Election, 
it  will  be  worth  a  great  deal  to  the  Liberal  cause.  A  very 
large  portion  of  the  Clergy  and  of  lay  Churchmen  (till  now 
Conservatives)  have  vowed  vengeance  upon  him  ;  and  his 
pro-Turkish  sympathies  have  alienated  a  great  many  more,' 


I 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  47 

'September  1,  1876. — Dr.  Liddon  and  I  sleep  at  the 
Lord  Warden  Hotel,  Dover,  on  Sunday  night,  and  cross 
on  Monday  morning.  I  suppose  a  letter  would  catch  me 
at  the  Lord  Warden  Hotel.  If  not,  my  next  address  Avill 
be  the  Four  Seasons  Hotel,  Munich.  We  go  by  Munich 
because  we  are  anxious  to  have  a  chat  with  Dollinger. 
We  intend  to  be  in  Munich  on  Wednesday  night,  and  leave 
for  Vienna  on  Friday.  After  Vienna  our  plans  are  not 
fixed.  We  are  anxious  to  go  to  Belgrade  and  also  to  pay 
a  visit  to  Strossmayer.  We  shall  probably  do  both  if  we 
have  time.  If  we  must  make  a  choice  between  the  two, 
Dean  Church  thinks  that  a  visit  to  Strossmayer  would  pay 
us  better — I  mean  that  we  should  probably  get  more 
information  in  respect  to  the  Eastern  Question. 

'  You  have  doubtless  noticed  the  short  but  pregnant 
letter  of  Lord  Odo  Russell  to  Lord  Derby,  given  on  page  6 
of  the  "Further  Correspondence."  Yet,  with  that  letter 
before  him,  Dizzy  had  the  audacity  to  talk  of  the  atrocities 
as  "  Coffee-house  babble."  I  would  give  a  great  deal  for 
the  defeat  of  his  nominee  in  Bucks.  There  seems  to  be 
good  stuff  in  this  Mr.  Rupert  Carington.i  He  plants  his 
blows  with  skill  and  effect. 

'  I  do  hope  you  will  make  a  speech  on  the  Eastern 
Question.  The  country  is  evidently  thoroughly  roused  ; 
but  it  wants  guidance.  Its  aspirations  are  all  in  the  right 
direction,  and  all  it  requires  is  to  have  its  ideas  and  wishes 
put  into  shape  and  order.  I  think  immense  capital  might 
be  made  against  Dizzy  just  now,  not  only  on  account  of 
the  atrocities,  but  also  on  account  of  the  extraordinary 
way  in  which  he  has  played  Russia's  game,  assuming 
that  she  is  engaged  in  a  bad  game.  He  has  done  his 
best  to  throw  the  Christian  populations  of  Turkey  into 
the  embraces  of  Russia,  and  he  has  at  the  same  time 
gone  far  to  educate  our  own  country  into  the  conviction 
that,  if  the  alternative  is  forced  upon  us,  it  would,  on  the 
whole,  be  better  to  have  Russia  rather  than  the  Turk  at 
Constantinople.' 

^  The  Hon.  Rupert  Carington,  Liberal  candidate  for  Bucks  at  the  vacancy 
created  by  Disraeli's  elevation  to  the  peerage, 


48  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

At  this  point,  I  turn  to  MacColl's  narrative  of  the 
journey : 

'  The  Save  skirts  Bosnia  until  it  reaches  Servia.  On 
the  left-hand  side  is  Slavonia,  which  is  flat  most  of  the  way. 
On  the  right  is  Bosnia,  which  is  generally  hilly  and  pictur- 
esque. The  insurrection  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  as 
the  reader  will  remember,  was  going  on  at  the  time.  The 
river  forms  the  boundary  between  Austrian  territory  and 
Bosnia,  which  was  then  under  the  direct  rule  of  the  Sultan. 
There  was  thus  a  constant  flow  of  insurgents  passing  to 
and  fro  across  the  river.  To  prevent  this,  a  number  of 
Turkish  block-houses  were  established  on  the  Turkish  side 
of  the  river  ;  and  to  prevent  surprise,  the  wood  was  cut 
down  within  a  radius  of  some  two  hundred  yards  of  each 
block-house.  In  many  parts  the  country  was  wild, 
uncultivated  and  uninliabited.  In  front  of  one  of  those 
block-houses  we  passed  in  sight  of  an  incident  which 
caused  a  great  deal  of  controversy  at  the  time.  This  was, 
a  man  impaled  on  a  stake .^  We  arrived  at  Semlin,  on 
the  Austrian  side  of  the  Danube,  on  the  evening  of  the 
second  day  of  our  voyage.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river  is  Belgrade,  for  which  we  were  bound.  It  stands 
high  over  the  river,  and  the  town  and  country  round 
about  is  dominated  by  the  fort.  We  took  a  boat  across 
the  river,  and  were  met  on  landing  by  our  host,  Mr. 
Cristich,  a  prominent  politician  in  Belgrade,  and  after- 
wards Servian  Minister  in  London.  We  remained  his 
guests  for  ten  days,  and  met  while  there  the  well-known 
Dr.  Sandwith,  of  Kars  fame,  who  was  ministering,  medically 
and  otherwise,  to  the  Servian  sick  and  wounded,  on  behalf 
of  the  Grosvenor  House  Committee,  of  which  I  was  Honorary 
Secretary.  Dr.  Sandwith  took  us  over  the  hospital  in  Bel- 
grade, where  we  witnessed  the  horrible  mutilations  com- 
mitted by  the  Turkish  soldiers  on  the  Servian  soldiers  and 
innocent  persons  of  both  sexes  who  had  fallen  into  their 
hands.  The  day  after  our  arrival,  we  attended  a  religious 
service  in  the  Cathedral  of  Belgrade,  and  saw  there,  among 

»  See  pp.  339,  366,  and  377. 


I 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  49 

others,  King  Milan,  who  was  then  only  Prince  of  Servia. 
His  son,  who  was  afterwards  assassinated,  had  been  born 
a  week  before,  and  this  service  was  in  thanksgiving  for  his 
birth.  The  Prime  Minister  was  Ristitch,  with  whom  we 
had  several  interviews.  He  struck  us  as  a  very  able  and 
strong  man.  We  made  several  excursions  into  the  country, 
and  it  was  our  intention  to  pass  on  to  the  Crimea,  and  return 
home  through  Northern  Russia.  But  the  war  between 
Turkey  and  Servia  and  Montenegro,  and  the  disturbances 
in  Bulgaria,  upset  our  plans.  So  we  determined  to  return 
home  by  the  Danube,  paying  our  promised  visit  to  Stross- 
mayer  by  the  way. 

'  Vukovar  is  a  picturesque  little  town  on  the  banks 
of  the  river,  consisting  of  stragghng  houses,  with  gardens 
in  front  of  several  of  them.  We  arrived  at  dusk,  so 
could  not  see  much  of  the  town  till  the  following  morning. 
Diakovar,  Strossmayer's  residence,  was  eighteen  miles 
distant  by  carriage.  We  intended  to  start  for  it  after 
breakfast  on  the  morrow,  and  made  inquiries  at  the  hotel 
as  to  the  possibility  of  getting  a  good  carriage.  During 
dinner,  our  waiter  told  Liddon  that  the  only  carriage  in 
Vukovar  belonged  to  his  brother  ;  and  as  there  was  naturally 
a  great  demand  for  it,  we  should  engage  it  at  once.  It  was, 
he  said,  a  beautiful  carriage,  with  excellent  springs — so 
Liddon  engaged  it.  It  was  to  be  at  the  hotel,  or  rather, 
small  inn,  where  we  lodged,  at  ten  o'clock  the  following 
morning.  At  the  hour  appointed,  we  had  our  luggage 
deposited  at  the  door,  and  we  walked  in  the  little  square 
in  front  of  the  inn  till  the  carriage  arrived.  Half  an  hour 
passed,  yet  no  sign  of  the  carriage.  We  waited  another 
half-hour,  and  began  to  get  rather  impatient ;  still  no  sign 
of  our  carriage.  I  suggested  jocosely  to  Liddon  that  our 
carriage  was  standing  near  the  inn,  pointing  at  the  same 
time  to  a  little  wooden  cart,  drawn  by  a  shaggy  little  pony, 
with  a  dirty  and  mangy-looking  lad  sitting  in  front,  and 
a  wooden  plank,  with  an  iron  rail  across  it  for  a  back,  in 
the  middle  of  the  cart.  Liddon  laughed  at  the  idea  ;  but 
after  waiting  another  quarter  of  an  hour,  we  went  up  to 
the  inn,  and  asked  about  our  carriage.     The  waiter  pointed 


50  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  this  cart.  We  asked  the  boy  who  he  was,  and  he  told 
us  that  this  was  our  carriage  to  Diakovar.  We  could 
hardly  believe  that  this  was  our  beautiful  carriage,  with 
excellent  springs  ;  but  being  assured  that  there  was  no 
other  vehicle  available  in  Vukovar,  we  had  to  make  the 
best  of  it.  So  we  had  our  portmanteaus  squeezed  into  the 
cart,  while  ourselves  took  our  seats  on  the  wooden  plank, 
without  any  cushion,  behind  the  driver — with  a  bar  of 
round  iron,  about  haK  an  inch  in  diameter,  fitting  into  the 
small  of  our  backs.  So  we  started  for  Diakovar.  There 
had  been  a  good  deal  of  rain  before  our  arrival,  and  the 
streets  consisted  of  greasy  mud,  with  ruts  varying  from 
six  inches  to  a  foot  in  depth.  We  jolted  along  out  of  the 
town,  passing  several  good  victorias  and  other  carriages  ; 
in  fact,  Liddon,  who  seldom  suspected  evil  of  his  fellow- 
creatures,  had  been  completely  swindled  by  the  waiter. 
Every  jolt  of  the  cart  jarred  our  spines.  The  wheels  were 
very  unsteady,  and  we  had  not  gone  more  than  two  miles 
when  one  of  them  came  off.  We  dismounted,  and  by  dint  of 
pushing  the  cart  while  the  driver  led  the  pony  and  pushed 
the  other  wheel,  we  arrived  at  a  smithy  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  distant,  where  we  waited  till  the  smith  managed  to 
patch  and  fix  the  wheel.  The  driver,  after  this  experience, 
drove  warily  and  slowly  ;  and  it  took  us  seven  hours  to 
cover  the  eighteen  miles.  When  at  last  we  entered  the 
Bishop's  park  at  Diakovar,  and  came  in  sight  of  the  palace, 
we  felt  too  much  ashamed  of  the  appearance  of  our  equipage 
and  driver  ;  so  we  ordered  him  to  drive  to  the  back  door 
while  we  walked  to  the  front  door,  where  we  found  a  tame 
crane  stalking  up  and  down  as  if  acting  the  part  of  a  sentinel.' 

From  the  palace,  thus  painfully  reached,  MacCoU  wrote 
to  Gladstone  as  follows  : 

'September  25,  1876. — I  have  delayed  so  long  to  thank 
you  for  the  kind  gift  of  your  pamphlet  ^  that  I  am  now 
quite  ashamed  to  write  to  you.  I  received  it  at  Vienna, 
and  you  do  not  need  to  be  told  with  what  delight  I 
read  it.     Since  then  Dr.  Liddon  and  myseK  have  passed 

^  Bulgarian  Horrors  and  the  Question  of  the  East. 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  51 

through  Croatia  and  Slavonia  into  Servia,  and  we  are 
now  paying  a  visit  of  two  days  to  Bishop  Strossmayer  on 
our  way  to  England.  I  have  written  three  letters  to  the 
Spectator,  and  have  asked  Hutton  to  send  you  a  copy 
of  the  numbers  which  contain  them  ;  for  your  time  is 
too  precious  to  be  taken  up  with  long  letters  in  manu- 
script. Otherwise  I  could  give  you  volumes  on  all  that 
I  have  heard  and  seen  since  I  left  England  three  weeks 
ago.  I  have  written  a  short  letter  to  the  Times  and  a 
longer  one  to  the  SjJectator  on  the  Turkish  atrocities,  and 
I  may  possibly  write  one  or  two  more  letters  before  I  reach 
England.     Dr.  Liddon  gives  his  impressions  to  the  Guardian. 

'  One  cardinal  mistake  which  people  at  home  make  is 
to  think  that  the  Bulgarian  horrors  are  rare  and  isolated 
outbreaks  of  Turkish  fanaticism.  On  the  contrary,  they 
are  only  a  specimen  in  tableau  of  what  goes  on  regularly 
in  the  Christian  provinces  of  Turkey.  The  property,  the 
honour,  and  the  life  of  every  Christian  in  the  Ottoman 
Empire  are  daily  exposed  to  the  lusts  and  passions  of  the 
Turks.  And  there  is  no  redress.  A  husband  who  remon- 
strates against  the  violation  of  his  wife,  a  brother  who 
complains  of  the  violation  of  his  sister,  is  exposed  to  the 
unbridled  will  of  his  Mussulman  master  ;  and  it  depends 
on  the  caprice  of  his  oppressor  whether  he  is  killed  on  the 
spot  or  put  to  a  lingering  death.  He  has  no  help,  no  one 
to  appeal  to  but  God,  no  one  who  will  succour  him.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  melancholy  face  and  sad  voice  with 
which  a  Bosnian  peasant,  the  other  day,  after  a  vivid 
description  of  the  sufferings  of  his  people,  added  :  "  And 
England  will  not  let  us  be  free." 

'  Your  pamphlet  and  speech  ^  have  done  a  world  of  good 
already.  They  have  been  translated  into  the  Servian 
papers,  and  I  believe  that  the  thanks  of  the  Servian  people 
have  reached  you  ere  now.  Bishop  Strossmayer  is  also 
delighted  both  with  your  speech  and  pamphlet,  and  he 
has  asked  Dr.  Liddon  and  me  to  assure  you  how  much  he 
admires  your  eloquent  championship  of  humanity,  and 
how  grateful  he  feels  for  the  service  you  have  rendered 

^  At  Blackheath,  on  the  Bulgarian  Atrocities. 

E  2 


52  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  "a  just  and  holy  cause  "  (they  are  his  words).  He  is 
all  on  fire  in  his  sympathy  for  the  Christians  in  Turkey, 
and  has  had  some  thoughts  of  going  to  England  to  do  his 
best  to  enlighten  public  opinion  there.  But  he  fears  that 
Austria,  which  at  present  means  Hungary,  would  come  down 
upon  him  and  put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  whatever  good 
he  is  now  able  to  do  for  the  Slav  populations.  I  have 
taken  the  liberty  of  saying  to  him  that  I  would  ask  you 
to  write  to  him  on  the  Eastern  Question,  and  he  expressed 
the  delight  which  he  would  have  in  corresponding  with  you. 
I  am  sure  you  would  like  him,  and  he  would,  of  course,  like 
you.  He  is  one  of  the  most  charming  and  interesting  men 
I  ever  met,  and  I  wish  you  could  afford  the  time  to  pay  him 
a  visit.  I  suppose  there  is  hardly  another  man  living  who 
has  gone  more  thoroughly  than  he  has  done  into  all  the 
ramifications  of  the  Eastern  Question.  He  is,  as  you  know. 
Bishop  of  Sirmium  ayid  Bosnia.  So  that  his  official  duties 
take  him  often  into  Bosnia,  and  he  is  also  intimately 
acquainted  with  Servia  and  Herzegovina.  I  wish  you  could 
hear  his  torrents  of  eloquence  on  the  question.  Dr.  Liddon 
and  I  have  listened  to  him  with  rapt  attention  for  an  hour 
at  a  time.  He  agrees  entirely  with  your  views  on  the 
subject.  He  says  that  to  hope  for  any  improvement  in  the 
Turk  is  a  mischievous  delusion,  and  he  dwells  emphatically, 
with  a  large  personal  experience  to  enforce  his  opinion, 
on  the  radical  difference  between  the  Turks  and  other 
Mohammedans.  He  says  the  Bosnian  Mussulmans  are 
nothing  like  so  cruel  as  the  Turks,  and  he  thinks  that  there 
is  good  hope  of  their  becoming  Christians  if  they  were  under 
a  Christian  administration.  What  he  himself  would  prefer 
is  that  Bosnia  should  be  given  to  Servia,  and  Herzegovina 
to  Montenegro.  He  has  the  highest  possible  opinion  of  the 
Servians.  He  says — and  I  can  confirm  it — that  they  are 
about  the  most  tolerant  people  in  the  world,  and  are  possessed 
of  great  political  and  administrative  capacity.  Ristitch,  the 
Servian  Foreign  Minister,  he  regards  as  one  of  the  ablest 
politicians  of  the  day.  And  certainly  that  is  the  impression 
which  Liddon  and  I  carried  away  from  a  long  conversation 
with  Ristitch.      •  I  am  a  Catholic,"  said  Strossmayer,  "  and 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  53 

the  Servians  are  Orthodox  ;  but  it  is  only  a  difference  of 
unimportant  details,  and  I  should  be  well  content  to  be 
under  the  political  administration  of  Servia."  Russia, 
he  thinks,  would  be  opposed  to  the  cession  of  Bosnia  to 
Servia  ;  for  Russia  knows  that  Servia,  like  Sardinia,  might 
become  the  nucleus  of  a  great  Christian  State  in  the  East. 
England,  instead  of  checkmating  Russia,  by  encouraging  the 
autonomy  of  the  Christian  populations  of  Turkey,  has  been 
playing  Russia's  game.  Still  it  is  not  too  late.  England, 
"  the  first  Christian  Power  in  the  world,"  has  the  ball  at 
her  feet.  Let  her  be  prompt  to  carry  out  your  policy,  and 
she  will  easily  win.  Russia  will  not  dare  to  oppose  her  ; 
Italy  will  act  cordially  with  her  ;  neither  France  nor 
Germany  will  oppose  her  ;  and  Austria,  standing  alone, 
would  have  to  give  way. 

'  Bishop  Strossmayer  is  building  a  grand  Cathedral 
close  to  his  palace,  chiefly  out  of  his  own  income.  The 
foundation-stone  was  laid  ten  years  ago,  and  he  hopes  to 
have  it  ready  for  consecration  in  five  years.  A  pupil  of 
Overbeck's  is  covering  the  walls  \\ith  frescoes,  the  subjects 
being  all  out  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  a  most  striking 
and  beautiful  building,  and  quite  on  a  par,  as  to  size,  with 
an  ordinary  English  Cathedral.  It  is  roofed,  and  looks 
quite  finished  from  the  outside,  and  some  progress  has  been 
made  with  the  frescoes  in  the  Chancel.  When  the  Cathedral 
is  finished  the  Bishop  intends  to  build  residences  for  a  Dean 
and  Chapter.  He  has  already  built  a  seminary  for  the 
training  of  clergy  for  Bosnia.  In  addition  to  all  this  his 
hand  is  ever  open  to  help  any  good  work  in  his  diocese  and 
beyond  it.  There  was  some  money  required  lately  for  the 
endowment  of  the  University  of  Agram.  Strossmayer  gave 
£2000,  and  also  contributed  largely  to  the  formation  of 
a  picture-gallery  in  Agram.  This  we  were  told  in  Agram 
by  several  persons,  who  added,  somewhat  bitterly,  that 
the  Archbishop  of  Agram,  though  his  income  was  £80,000 
a  year,  did  not  give  a  farthing.  Strossmayer  keeps  open 
house.  Twenty-five  guests  sat  down  at  his  table  to  dinner 
yesterday,  and  forty  poor  persons — sometimes  many  more — 
dine  in  the  servants'  hall  every  day.     One  curious  relic 


54  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

of  the  rule  of  the  Turks  in  this  region  still  remains  in  the 
household  of  the  Bishop.  The  headman  in  the  servants' 
hall,  a  picturesque  person,  dressed  in  semi-Oriental  fashion, 
is  called  Harem-Pasha.  Strossmayer  gave  the  Servians 
£3000  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  He  is  a  man  who 
overflows  with  charity,  and  hopes  for  the  reunion  of 
Christendom  in  spite  of  the  Vatican  Council.  He  has  no 
scruples  about  our  Orders  or  Sacraments.  If  only  he  were 
Pope  !  He  has  a  weak  chest,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  and  talks 
sometimes  in  the  tone  of  a  man  who  does  not  expect  to  live 
long.  The  Cathedral,  when  finished,  cannot  cost  much 
less  than  £400,000  ;  yet  this  man  is  frowned  upon  at  the 
Vatican,  Avhile  men  like  Manning  are  advanced  to  the  highest 
dignities.  The  Vatican  does  not  dare  to  do  more  than 
frown  ;  for  a  man  who  is  adored  by  some  six  millions  of 
Croats  and  Slavs  cannot  safely  be  treated  like  Dollinger — 
for  whom,  by  the  way,  Strossmayer  expresses  the  highest 
esteem  and  regard. 

'Dr.  Liddon  sends  his  respects.  We  start  to-day  for 
Vienna  by  way  of  Pesth,  and  I  must  try  to  get  to  London 
by  Monday,  as  I  am  down  to  speak  on  the  Bonn  Conference 
at  the  Church  Congress  at  Plymouth  on  October  3. 

'  Bishop  Strossmayer  says  he  will  write  you  a  short 
letter.  I  am  so  glad,  as  it  will  make  an  opening  for  a 
correspondence.  He  confirms  the  account  of  the  impalings 
in  Bosnia  which  I  have  sent  to  the  Times  and  Spectator, 
and  adds  some  horrible  details,  e.g.  that  a  woman  was 
impaled  on  the  eve  of  her  confinement.  These  tortures  are 
an  amusement  to  the  Turks.' 

On  October  9  a  meeting  to  protest  against  the  Bulgarian 
atrocities  was  held  in  St.  James's  Hall,  and  MacCoU  thus 
reported  it  to  his  chief  : 

'  Nothing  could  have  been  more  enthusiastic.  The 
hearts  of  the  working  men  are  evidently  still  in  the  right 
place,  as  Dizzy  would  speedily  find  out  if  he  were  to  appeal 
to  them.  Delane  has  come  back  from  Dunrobin  Castle  with 
the  notion  that  there  is  not  very  much  in  the  agitation, 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  55 

after  all.  He  requires  to  have  strong  proofs  of  his  error. 
I  hope  the  meetings  will  go  on,  for  there  is  much  danger  that 
the  Government  will  betray  the  country,  Forster's  rambling 
and  vacillating  speech  has  done  much  harm.  I  saw  him 
in  Vienna  and  I  travelled  part  of  the  way  home  with  him. 
His  view  then  was  that  a  military  occupation  of  Turkey 
would  be  necessary.  I  think  he  greatly  exaggerates  the 
difficulties.  Let  the  Christians  be  armed,  and  the  Moham- 
medans will  think  twice  before  they  attack  them.  Stross- 
mayer  has  no  doubt  that  the  Bosnian  Mohammedans,  for 
example,  would  soon  become  reconciled  to  Servian  ad- 
ministration. The  threats  of  a  Mussulman  rising  are  all 
moonshine.  The  Mohammedans  will  not  rise  if  they  are 
once  given  to  understand  that  no  European  Power  will 
protect  them  from  the  consequences  of  their  own  misdeeds. 
At  present  they  rely  on  England.' 

'  October  13,  1876. — I  trust  most  sincerely  that  Servia 
will  reject  a  five  months'  armistice.  The  proposal  is  a 
clever  dodge  on  the  part  of  Turkey.  Six  weeks  will  enable 
the  Powers  to  settle  the  affair  peacefully  or  to  see  that  it 
cannot  be  peacefully  settled.  An  armistice  at  all,  at  this 
season,  is  a  great  boon  to  Turkey,  and  a  loss  to  Servia,  in  a 
military  point  of  view. 

'  I  quite  agree  with  you  about  Lady 's  Fund.     She 

is  a  thorough  Turk,  and  I  don't  trust  her  at  all.  She 
was  staying  for  two  days  at  the  same  hotel  as  Liddon  and 
myself  at  Vienna.  Her  sympathy  for  the  Bulgarians  is 
artificial  and  for  a  purpose.  Her  sympathy  for  the  Turks 
and  the  Turkish  cause  is  thoroughly  genuine.  Of  course 
I  shall  regard  what  you  have  said  on  that  point  as  private. 

'  I  am  sorry  Lord  Hartington  has  not  gone  into  the 
Christian  provinces  of  Turkey,  He  will  hear  nothing  at 
Constantinople,  especially  in  the  society  in  which  he  appears 
to  be  moving,  but  what  is  false  and  bad.' 

All  through  1876  and  1877  the  great  conflict  raged,  and 
MacCoU  followed  it  indefatigably  through  all  its  phases, 
which  he  embodied  in  a  vigorous  pamphlet  called  '  The 


56  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Eastern  Question  :  its  facts  and  fallacies.'  On  December  4, 
1876,  he  wrote  to  Gladstone: 

'  I  saw  Count  Schouvaloff  yesterday  at  Madame  Novi- 
koff's.  He  agrees  with  Bismarck  that  war  is  inevitable. 
The  Turks,  he  says,  encouraged  by  Dizzy,  will  make  no 
concessions  of  any  importance.  He  thinks  that  Dizzy 
will  send  the  fleet  up  the  Dardanelles,  which  under  the 
circumstances  he  would  regard  as  an  indirect  alliance  with 
Turkey.  .  .  .  There  lies  our  danger.  He  may  gradually 
o-et  the  country  into  such  a  fix  that  we  may  find  our- 
selves at  war  with  Russia  before  we  know  where  w^e  are. 
All  things  are  possible  with  such  an  unprincipled  gambler 
as  he  is.' 

On  August  8,  1877,  MacCoU  wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

'  I  returned  last  week  from  a  three  weeks'  tour  in  Ireland 
with  Dr.  Liddon,  and  I  think  you  will  be  pleased  to  hear  that 
the  Irish  people,  as  far  as  Dr.  Liddon  and  I  could  learn,  are 
all  right  on  the  Eastern  Question.  We  made  that  a  point  of 
inquiry  wherever  we  went  and  always  with  the  same  result. 
I  am  convinced  that,  if  the  Vatican  had  not  pronounced  in 
favour  of  the  Turks,  the  Irish  would  have  given  as  loud  a 
vent  to  their  feelings  as  the  English  did.  The  paper  taken 
in  by  all  the  priests  is  the  Freeman's  Journal.  I  read  it 
diligently  while  I  was  in  Ireland,  and  I  found  that  its  articles 
on  the  Eastern  Question  Mere  all  on  the  right  side.  Even  in 
its  occasional  articles  against  Russia  there  was  no  violence 
and  there  was  always  a  dig  at  the  hated  Turk.  The  country 
people  were  enthusiastically  against  the  Turks,  and  thought 
they  ought  to  be  driven  clean  out  of  Europe. 

'  Another  thing  which  pleased,  and  certainly  surprised 
me,  was  your  popularity  with  the  Irish.  They  seem  to  have 
repented  of  the  folly  of  1874,  I  do  not  mean  that  they 
have  given  up  the  craze  of  Home  Rule;^  but  they  have 
recovered  their  faith  in  you  personally.  If  any  chance 
took  you  to  Ireland  now,  you  would,  I  am  sure,  be  received 
with  enthusiasm  everywhere — at  least  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  population.     I  saw  a  good  deal  of  a  most  liberal 

^  In  view  of  what  was  to  come  in  1885,  '  the  craze   of   Home   Rule '  is 
a  noteworthy  expression. 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  .17 

and  charming  man,  Dr.  Moriarty.  He  told  me,  among 
other  things,  that  the  Roman  CathoHc  hierarchy  had  pretty 
well  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  had  made  a  great 
mistake  in  rejecting  your  Irish  University  Bill  in  1873.' 

The  'Bulgarian  Atrocities'  of  1875  bore  fruit  in 
the  Russo-Turkish  War,  which,  beginning  in  April  1877, 
raged  with  amazing  ferocity  to  March  1878.  It  seemed 
morally  certain  that  Lord  Beaconsfield  wished  to  intervene 
on  the  Turkish  side,  and  Gladstone  devoted  all  his  energies 
to  the  task  of  'counter-working,'  as  he  said,  'the  purposes 
of  Lord  Beaconsfield.'  Day  by  day  we  seemed  to  be  drawing 
nearer  the  edge  of  a  second  and  even  more  criminal  Crimea, 
and  our  danger  became  manifest  to  all  men  when,  on 
March  28,  1878,  Lord  Derby  i  resigned  the  office  of  Foreign 
Secretary  because  he  could  not  sanction  the  military  prepara- 
tions which  Lord  Beaconsfield  professed  to  think  necessary 
in  view  of  the  disturbed  state  of  Eastern  Europe.  On 
March  30  MacColl  wrote  privately  to  the  Editor  of  the 
Daily  News  : 

*  I  have  ascertained  at  the  Russian  Embassy  that  it  was 
not  the  calling  out  of  the  Reserves,  merely  or  chiefly,  that 
made  Lord  Derby  resign,  but  a  coup  upon  which  the  Govern- 
ment had  determined.  They  do  not  know  at  the  Embassy 
what  this  coup  is — whether  the  seizure  of  Gallipoli  or 
Mitylene,  or  some  other  strategic  point  on  Turkish  territory. 
They  only  know — I  believe  from  Lord  Derby — that  the 
Government  have  decided  on  some  action  behind  the  calling 
out  of  the  Reserves.  The  danger  of  course  is  that,  if  English 
troops  are  sent  into  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Dardanelles, 
the  Russians  will,  as  a  matter  of  precaution,  seize  Gallipoli. 
The  Russians  have  made  up  their  minds  that  it  is  useless  to 
attempt  further  negotiations  with  our  Government.  They 
feel  certain  that  Lord  Beaconsfield  is  determined  on  war,  and 
that  he  is  only  prolonging  negotiations  till  he  is  ready  to 
strike. 

'  The  only  hope  now — and  it  is  a  slender  one — is  in  a 
bold  and  vital  front  on  the  part  of  the  Opposition. 

*  Edward  Hcnrv.  l^th  Earl  of  Derby. 


58  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  My  little  book  ^  will  be  out  next  week.  I  wish  there 
were  time  to  make  it  better.  But  my  facts  are  so  strong 
that  I  think  I  have  made  out  one  of  the  most  damning  cases 
ever  made  out  against  a  Government. 

'Perhaps  it  will  be  well  to  allude  to  the  intended  Congress. 
They  tell  me  at  the  Russian  Embassy  that  the  Government 
are  a  little  uneasy  at  the  possible  effect  of  Lord  Derby's 
resignation,  and  that  they  are  vacillating  again.  Lord 
Hartington  could,  by  one  speech,  stop  the  whole  mischief 
and  compel  the  Government  to  go  into  Congress.' 

By  an  overruling  Providence  war  was  averted,  and  the 
Government  '  went  into  Congress  '  at  Berhn  in  July  1878 — 
with  what  results  to  Christian  freedom  in  the  East  of  Europe 
we  all  know.  In  the  following  month  MacCoU  was  staying 
with  Lord  and  Lady  Bath  at  Longleat,  and  thence  he  wrote 
to  Gladstone  on  August  28 : 

'  I  send  with  this  a  proof -copy  of  a  Report  on  the  Berlin 
Treaty  drawn  up  by  a  Sub-Committee  of  the  Eastern  Question 
Association,  and  which  it  is  intended  to  issue  in  a  few  days. 
It  has  been  approved  by  a  meeting  of  the  General  Committee 
of  the  Association  :  but  the  vSub-Committee  can  still  make 
alterations  of  no  great  importance,  for  they  have  been 
authorized  to  do  so  by  the  General  Committee.  I  have 
marked  the  names  of  the  persons  to  whom  the  different 
parts  have  been  assigned.  My  main  object  has  been  to 
show  what  I  think  is  borne  out  by  facts — namely,  that 
Russia,  which  our  Government  have  claimed  to  have 
vanquished,  is  a  very  large  gainer  by  the  operations  of  our 
Plenipotentiaries,  and  the  only  gainer. 

'  There  are  several  Tories  staying  here,  and  they  are 
anything  but  jubilant  on  the  state  of  affairs.' 

From  Longleat  MacColl  went  north  to  stay  with  Lord 
and  Lady  Strathmore  at  Glamis,  whence  he  wrote  on 
September  28  : 

'  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  has  been  staying  here  for  some 
days.     Of  course  I  could  not  expect  him  to  discuss  the 

1  Three  Years' of  the  Eastern  Qtiestion. 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  59 

Eastern  Question  with  me.  I  found  him,  however,  very 
friendly.  He  confessed  his  uneasiness  about  Eastern  Affairs, 
though  the  repulse  of  our  Mission  to  Cabul  was  not  then 
known.  He  also  confessed  that  he  had  no  opinion  of  Midhat 
Pasha,  whom  he  described  as  "  a  commonplace  if  not  stupid 
man."  This  opinion  he  formed  after  an  interview  with  the 
Pasha. 

'  One  thing  surprised  me.  Sir  Stafford  learnt  from  the 
papers,  while  he  was  here,  the  elevation  of  Lord  Cairns  to 
an  Earldom.  He  was  inclined  to  doubt  it  at  first,  as  he 
could  see  no  reason  for  it. 

'  I  am  surprised  that  the  country  takes  the  Afghan 
imbroglio  so  quietly.  I  suppose  the  public  mind  has  become 
so  used  to  Dizzy's  theatrical  surprises  that  nothing  but  a 
disaster  will  rouse  it  from  its  lethargy.  I  believe,  however, 
that  a  dissolution  would  be  fatal  to  the  Government.  Mr. 
Baxter  (M.P.  for  Montrose),  who  dined  here  the  other 
evening,  told  me  that  the  Political  Committee  of  the  Reform 
Club  are  inundated  with  applications  for  Liberal  candidates 
— many  of  the  applications  coming  from  places  where,  six 
months  ago,  no  Liberal  would  dream  of  appearing. 

'  Lord  Beaconsfield's  Secretary,  Mr.  Algernon  Turnor,  is 
here.  He,  too,  is  anything  but  jubilant.  He  tells  me  that 
France  has  been  very  troublesome  about  Egypt ;  insisting 
not  merely  on  having  a  Frenchman  in  the  new  Government 
of  Nubar  Pasha,  but  on  nominating  him  direct.  France, 
of  course,  would  not  hear  of  an  English  protectorate  in 
Egypt. 

'  My  host,  though  a  Tory,  is,  and  has  been  all  along, 
against  the  Government's  Eastern  policy.  So  that  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote  and  Mr.  Algernon  Turnor  have  not 
talked  as  freely  as  they  would  have  done  among 
sympathizers.' 

'October  12,  1878.— Lord  Bath  is  in  town  till  Monday. 
I  had  a  long  conversation  with  him  yesterday  on  the 
present  aspect  of  pohtical  affairs.  The  more  I  see  of  him, 
the  abler  I  think  him.  I  have  seldom  found  his  judgment 
at  fault,  and  therefore  I  attach  much  weight  to  his  opinion 


60  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

on  political  questions  ;  on  home  questions  more  especially, 
for  he  has  been  an  active  party  man.  He  was,  as  you 
know,  the  Tory  Whip  in  the  Lords  for  some  time,  and  he 
has  bestowed  much  pains  on  the  organization  of  his  party 
in  Somerset  and  Wiltshire. 

'  At  present  he  is  in  some  perplexity.  He  has  taken  no 
interest  in  the  organization  of  his  party  for  three  years  in 
the  two  counties  I  have  named,  and  he  says  that  they  are 
going  to  pieces.  Unless  he  bestirs  himself  at  once,  four  seats, 
he  believes,  will  inevitably  be  lost  to  the  party.  This  he 
would  not  mind  much  if  it  were  only  for  the  next  Election. 
But  once  gone,  they  may  never  be  recovered.  It  is  therefore 
a  question  with  him  of  breaking  altogether  with  his  party  ; 
and,  with  his  antecedents,  that  is  a  result  which  he  could 
hardly  face  without  a  great  wrench.  Yet  so  utterly  does 
he  loathe  their  tactics  and  policy  on  the  Eastern  Question 
that  I  almost  think  it  ^nll  be  a  greater  wrench  to  do  any- 
thing to  keep  them  in  power.  He  agrees  with  you  that  the 
reaction  against  the  Government  has  set  in  strongly  ;  and 
he  is  very  glad  that  you  have  not  spoken  on  the  Afghan 
business  ;  so  that  the  Tories  cannot  possibly  lay  any  share 
of  their  misfortunes  on  you.  He  also  hopes  that  when  the 
Liberal  leaders  do  speak,  they  will  confine  themselves  to 
destructive  criticism,  and  not  give  the  Government  the 
advantage  of  having  a  counter  policy  to  attack. 

'  Now  I  am  going  to  make  what  I  hope  you  will  not 
consider  an  impertinent  suggestion,  though  I  feel  that  it 
really  is  impertinent.  I  see  from  the  papers  that  the  Duke 
of  Argyll  is  going  to  pay  you  a  visit.  Would  it  not  be 
worth  while  to  get  Lord  Bath,  in  his  present  frame  of  mind, 
to  visit  you  at  the  same  time  ?  I  have  no  idea  whether  he 
has  any  engagements  which  would  prevent  it.  But  when 
I  was  at  Longleat  some  time  ago  he  said,  half  jocosely  but 
more  in  earnest,  that  he  wished  you  would  ask  Lady  Bath 
and  himself  to  Hawarden.' 

MacCoU  was  always  in  deadly  earnest  about  the  con- 
troversy of  the  moment,  and  this  earnestness  as  a  rule 
prevented  him  from  indulging  in  political  pleasantry.     But 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  61 

for  once  he  was  induced  to  hazard  a  gibe  at  Lord  Beacons- 
field's  expense,  and  his  prompter  was  the  gravest  of  all 
Whig  statesmen — the  second  Lord  Northbrook.  The 
Lord  Mayor's  Banquet  was  approaching,  and  the  following 
skit  on  the  Disraeli  an  manner  appeared  in  the  Echo  of 
November  9,  1878  : 


'  To-night's  Speech  Anticipated 

'  {From  our  Clairvoyant  Correspondent) 

'  A  clairvoyant  correspondent  has  sent  us  the  following 
report  of  what  struck  him  as  the  most  important  part  of 
the  Prime  Minister's  speech  this  evening  at  the  Lord  Mayor's 
banquet.  It  will  be  understood,  of  course,  that  we  do  not 
make  ourselves  responsible  for  the  strict  accuracy  of  our 
correspondent's  report.  We  print  it  just  as  we  have  received 
it.  "  After  some  prehminary  skirmishing  and  intermediate 
platitudes,"  writes  our  correspondent,  "  the  orator,  who 
wore  a  glittering  star  upon  his  breast,  launched  into  what 
seemed  to  be  the  heart  of  his  subject  as  follows  : 

'  "  I  am  told,  my  Lord  Mayor,  that  trade  is  bad,  and  I  am 
not  here  to  rebut  that  allegation.  But  to  admit  that  trade 
is  not  in  a  flourishing  condition  is  one  thing  ;  to  argue  that 
England  is  less  able  than  of  old  to  bear  the  responsibilities 
and  burdens  of  Empire  is  quite  another.  (Cheers.)  Look 
at  America  ;  look  at  France.  When  the  United  States 
emerged  out  of  that  gigantic  struggle  which  threatened 
to  rend  them  asunder,  there  were  croakers  here  and 
elsewhere  who  prophesied  the  ruin  of  that  great  Republic. 
Superficial  observers  and  hungry  place-hunters — (laughter) 
— pointed  to  a  stagnant  trade,  a  high  taxation,  and  an 
exchequer  filled  with  greenbacks,  and  from  those  indis- 
putable facts  they  drew  the  false  conclusion  that  the  great 
American  Union  was  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  and  was 
about  to  crumble  to  pieces.  But  what  do  we  behold  ? 
Why,  that  the  United  States — that  wondrous  polity  sprung 
from  the  loins  of  an  Imperial  race — (tremendous  cheering) — 
is  at  this  moment  mightier  and  wealthier  than  it  v\as  before. 


62  I^IALCOLM  MACCOLL 

(Cheers.)     And  how  have  the  United  States  achieved  that 
grand  result  ?    By  recognizing  their  destiny,  by  resolving 
not  to  lag  behind  in  the  irrepressible  struggle  for  empire. 
(Cheers.)     And    I    must    say    that   they    had    one    great 
advantage  which  I  am  sometimes  tempted  to  envy  them. 
They  had  among  them  no  unpatriotic  aspirants  to  office — 
(cheers) — no  pohtician  soured  by  failure  and  jaundiced  by 
the  noxious  humours  of  a  distempered  ambition — (cheers 
and  laughter) — no   craven   Cassandra  gloating  in  foreign 
magazines  over  the  ecHpsed  glory  and  superannuated  destiny 
of  his  country.     (Tremendous  cheering.)     Thus,  unfettered 
and    untrammelled,    our    American     kinsmen    confronted 
their  troubles  with   a  hope   and   courage  worthy  of  the 
Imperial  stock  which  gave  them  birth.     (Cheers.)     And  the 
result  is  before  our  eyes  in    a   revived  trade,  decreased 
taxation,  and  a  prosperous  and  contented  people.     (Cheers.) 
Nor  is  the  case  of  France  less  instructive.     Struck  down 
from  her  pride  of  place,  more  through  her  own  intestine 
divisions  than  by  the  sword  of  a  conquering  army,  she 
has  learnt  wisdom   in   the  school   of   adversity.   .   .   .  Let 
us    therefore    prove    ourselves   worthy   of    our   ancestors. 
(Cheers.)     Let  us  not  be  weary  in  well-doing.     We  have 
inherited  a  great  and  glorious  Empire.       (Cheers.)      Let 
us  guard  our  heritage — let  us  bequeath  it  to  our  children, 
not  merely  undiminished,  but  widened.     (Loud  applause.) 
.   .   .  We  enjoy  the  favour  of   our   Empress-Queen.     We 
have  the  confidence  of  a  great  and  understanding  people. 
(Loud    cheers.)   .   .   .  The    occasion    is    urgent,    and    Her 
Majesty's   Government    feel    that    they    may    confidently 
rely  on  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of   a  united   nation. 
(Loud  and  continued  applause.) 

And  now  the  great  controversy  was  drawing  towards 
its  close,  and  MacCoU's  spirits  were  cheered  by  a  strong 
prescience  of  approaching  victory.  On  April  16,  1879,  he 
wrote  : 

'  Nemesis  is  at  last,  I  am  happy  to  think,  close  upon  the 
heels  of  Dizzy's  Government ;  and  I  beheve  that  when 
the  day  of  reckoning  comes  the  criminal  follies  of  the  last 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  63 

three  years  will  be  avenged  by  not  merely  a  defeat,  but 
a  disastrous  rout,  at  the  polls.' 

'November  5,  1879. — I  have  a  greater  horror  of  Disraeli 
than  you  appear  to  have.  I  believe  him  to  be  utterly  and 
entirely  uncontrolled  by  anything  like  conscience.  Another 
six  years  of  his  rule  might  push  this  country  on  an  incline 
which  would  soon  reduce  it  to  the  political  level  of  Spain. 
But  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  next  Election  wiU  give  a 
Liberal  victory.  What  I  long  to  see,  however,  is  not 
simply  a  Tory  defeat,  but  a  Tory  rout.  And  there  is 
only  one  thing  wanting  to  secure  a  victory  as  complete 
as  that  of  1868.  That  one  thing  is  that  the  Liberal  host 
should  go  into  battle  under  the  leader  who  won  that 
victory.' 

Gladstone  had  abdicated  the  Liberal  leadership  in 
January  1875,  and  had  often  used  language  pointing  to 
retirement  from  politics.  But  now  he  said  good-bye  to  his 
constituents  at  Greenwich,  and  entered  upon  that  famous 
'  Midlothian  Campaign  '  which,  whether  he  wished  it  or 
not,  was  destined  to  replace  him  in  power.  This  time  it 
was  to  Mrs.  Gladstone  that  MacColl  poured  forth  his 
soul : 

^November  27,  1879. — Mr.  Gladstone's  tour,  or  rather 
royal  progress,  in  the  North,  has  clearly  settled  the  question 
of  leadership  for  him.  Whatever  his  own  private  opinion 
may  be,  the  country  will  have  no  refusal.  That,  as  far 
as  I  can  learn,  is  the  universal  opinion  in  London.  The 
extraordinary  spell  of  his  name  and  eloquence  ought  not  to 
have  surprised  people,  yet  it  has  come  upon  London  society 
as  a  new  revelation.  He  never  was  more  powerful  than  he 
is  at  this  moment — perhaps  never  as  powerful.  It  is  the 
reaction  caused  by  three  years  of  calumny,  aided  by  the 
conviction  that  he  is  the  one  man  who  had  a  policy  to 
propound  and  the  courage  to  propound  it.' 

On  March  9,  1880,  it  was  announced  that  Parliament 
would  immediately  be  dissolved  ;  on  the  11th  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote   introduced   his    Budget ;     and   the   dissolution 


64  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

actually  took  place  on  the  24tli.     On  the   11th  MacColl 
wrote  thus  to  Gladstone  : 

'The  motive  of  the  Government  in  dissolving  after 
producing  their  Budget  puzzles  me  a  little.  I  suppose 
they  have  been  cooking  their  finance.  I  see  that  you  are 
to  make  a  speech  in  Marylebone  to-morrow,  I  think 
you  ought  to  look  at  the  first  two  letters  in  yesterday's 
Guardian  (Correspondence  column)  on  your  last  speech. 
The  first  letter  is  by  a  Tory  M.P.  ;  the  second,  signed 
"  Ex-Tory,"  is  from  me.  I  enclose  also  a  letter  from 
the  same  M.P.  in  last  week's  Church  Times,  with  the 
proof  of  a  reply  which  I  have  sent,  and  which  will  appear 
to-morrow.  You  need  not  return  it.  I  believe  a  very 
large  section  of  the  High  Church  party,  and  most  of  the 
RituaUsts,  will  vote  for  the  Liberals.  You  have  vexed 
some  of  them  by  seeming  to  say  that  sympathy  with  the 
Eastern  Christians  has  been  almost  entirely  confined  to 
the  Nonconformists.  I  know  you  have  not  said  so  ;  but 
busy  men,  who  have  not  time  to  follow  the  details  of  a  long 
controversy,  are  apt  to  be  misled  by  what  you  are  represented 
to  have  said.  I  think  you  might  to-morrow  night  say  a 
few  words  which  would  gain  the  Liberal  party  many  votes 
without  ahenating  any  others. 

'  The  RituaHsts  can  turn  the  scale  in  several  con- 
stituencies. They  did  so  in  Bristol  at  the  last  Election. 
The  Tories  are  trying  desperately  to  win  them.' 

Gladstone  was  now  in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  contesting 
Midlothian,  nominally  against  Lord  Dalkeith,  but  really 
against  all  the  Conservative  forces  of  Scotland.  At  the 
same  time,  for  security's  sake,  he  was  nominated  for  Leeds, 
where  a  Liberal  victory  was  assured  ;  and  his  youngest  son  ^ 
contested  Middlesex. 

MacColl  wrote  thus  to  his  chief  : 

'  This  note  must  take  its  chance  of  being  opened  by  you. 
I  write  it  to  tell  you  that  I  forward  by  the  same  post  to  you 
a  copy  of  Lord  Bath's  book  on  Bulgaria.-     He  is  first  cousin 
»  Afterwards  Lord  Gladstone.  -  Observations  on  Bulgarian  Affairs. 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  65 

to  Lord  Dalkeith,  and  perhaps  you  might  quote  what  he 
says  on  the  conduct  of  our  Government  towards  the  end 
of  the  volume  ;  also  his  exposure  of  Austria.  It  might 
possibly  be  effective  to  quote  a  man  of  his  position  and 
independence  as  entirely  on  your  side. 

'  You  asked  me  some  time  ago  how  Lord  Bath  was  going 
to  act  in  the  General  Election.  He  is  very  modest,  and 
thinks  it  would  be  arrogant  for  him  to  write  such  a  letter 
as  Lord  Derby's  to  Lord  Sefton.^  At  the  same  time  he  makes 
no  secret  at  all  of  his  desire  to  see  the  Liberals  beat  the 
Government.  I  know  that  he  has  told  the  Duchess  of 
Buccleuch  that  he  sincerely  Avishes  you  success  in  Midlothian. 
He  has  prevented  a  contest  at  Frome.  But  he  says  that 
it  will  take  him  about  five  years  to  undo  his  work  for  the 
Tories  in  Wiltshire  and  Somerset.  If  you  return  to  power 
as  Premier  he  will  sit  behind  Lord  GranviUe.  He  has  told 
me  so. 

'  I  hear  golden  opinions  everywhere  of  your  son's 
candidature  in  Middlesex.   .   ,   . 

'  I  sent  you  the  other  day  a  pamphlet  of  mine  of  which 
I  am  somewhat  ashamed.^  The  fact  is,  I  found  your  son 
in  possession  of  a  Tory  political  catechism  full  of  lies  and 
sophisms  ;  and,  knowing  how  busy  he  was,  I  sat  down  last 
Tuesday  evening  and  jotted  dawn  some  replies  to  the  Tory 
fallacies.  I  got  interested  in  my  work,  and  determined 
to  write  a  pamphlet.  I  sat  down  at  7  p.m.  on  Tuesday,  and 
never  left  my  chair  till  eleven  the  following  morning,  except 
to  put  coals  on  the  fire.  The  pamphlet  was  in  the  printer's 
hands  at  11.30  on  Wednesday,  and  was  out  at  7  p.m.  on 
Thursday.  I  called  myself  "  Clericus  "  ;  but  my  pubhsher, 
who  is  a  sterling  Liberal,  thought  a  Rector  was  a  "  Dignitary," 
and  so  he  substituted  "  A  Church  Dignitary  "  for  "  Clericus," 
thinking  it  would  draw  more  attention  to  the  pamphlet.  It 
has  done  so,  I  find.  For  people  are  wondering  "  Who  the 
Bishop  is."  My  pamphlet  is  very  roughly  executed  ;  for  I 
sent  it  to  the  printer  without  reading  over  what  I  had  written.' 

^  On  March  15  Lord  Derby  announced  in  a  public  letter  to  Lord  Sefton 
his  separation  from  the  Conservative  party. 

-  The  Liberal  Reason  Why,  explained  in  a  letter  to  the  Marquess  of  Harting- 
ton,  M.P.,  by  a  Church  Dignitary. 

9 


66  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  April  3,  1880. — You  have,  no  doubt,  heard  from  others 
of  the  wonderful  enthusiasm  created  by  your  son  Herbert 
wherever  he  appears.  I  now  wish  to  tell  you,  from  my 
own  personal  observation,  that  no  report  that  has  reached 
you  has  at  all  exaggerated  the  impression  w^hich  your  son 
has  made  and  is  making.  I  went  to  his  meeting  last  night 
at  Hounslow,  and  heard  him  speak.  It  was  an  admirable 
speech,  admirably  dehvered,  without  a  single  note  or  a  single 
hesitation.  He  spoke  for  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour. 
There  were  some  Jingoes  ;  but  he  subdued  them  with  his  good 
humour,  self-possession,  mastery  of  his  subject,  and  great 
readiness  of  repartee.  As  an  example  of  the  latter,  your  son 
chanced  to  drop  the  remark  that  the  Tories  had  an  innings 
of  six  years.  "  And  we  wiU  give  them  a  second  innings," 
shouted  a  Jingo.  "  My  friend,"  retorted  Herbert,  "  if  you 
apply  the  rules  of  cricket  to  political  hfe,  I  admit  that 
there  is  something  in  your  observation  ;  for  such  is  the 
egregious  mess  which  the  Government  have  made  of  their 
first  innings  that,  by  the  rules  of  cricket,  they  ought  to 
follow  on."  This  sally  was  received  with  shouts  of  laughter, 
and  the  obstreperous  Jingo  was  silenced  for  the  rest  of  the 
evening.  The  meeting  was  a  crowded  one,  and  full  of 
enthusiasm. 

'This  morning  I  went  with  Herbert  to  a  crowded  and 
most  enthusiastic  meeting  in  the  to^n-hall,  Holborn — a 
large  room,  quite  filled.  Your  son  spoke  for  an  hour 
splendidly,  and  did  not  repeat  his  speech  of  last  evening. 
The  odds  are  so  fearfully  against  him,  owing  to  his  coming 
so  late  into  the  field,  that  I  am  afraid  to  hope  for  his  success. 
But  such  is  the  effect  he  has  produced  that  his  Committee 
reaUy  think  he  may  come  in.  If  he  had  only  a  fortnight 
more,  I  would  back  him  against  any  odds.  But,  in  any 
case,  he  has  made  his  career.  Whether  he  sits  for  Middlesex 
or  not  in  a  few  days,  it  is  now  the  belief  of  everybody  that 
some  place  must  be  found  for  him  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
I  intend  to  go  with  him  to  aU  his  meetings  to-morrow.  Some 
of  the  Committee  tell  me  that  my  presence  as  a  clergyman 
of  the  Established  Church  is  useful.  I  did  think  that  I  might 
be  of  some  use  to  your  son  in  supplying  him  occasionally 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  67 

with  facts  in  matters  of  foreign  policy.  But  I  find  that  he 
is  as  well  up  in  that  subject  as  I  am,  and  requires  no 
prompting. 

'  We  are  in  great  excitement  at  this  Club  ^  over  the 
glorious  news  of  continuous  victory.  Rounds  of  cheers 
were  elicited  an  hour  ago  by  the  announcement  of  your 
splendid  majority  at  Leeds.  I  should  think,  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment,  that  the  numbers  you  have  polled  are  the 
largest  ever  given  to  a  Member  of  Parliament.  A  subsequent 
telegram  from  Leeds  says  that  they  expected  to  place  you 
at  the  head  of  the  poll,  but  not  by  half  the  majority  actually 
polled  for  you.  I  hope  Midlothian  will  follow  the  good 
example.  A  majority  of  100  for  you  in  Midlothian 
would  be  considered  in  London  a  good  majority  and  a 
great  victory  ;  for  the  jubilant  confidence  expressed  by  the 
Tories  has  made  Liberals  nervous  as  to  your  winning  at 
all.  They  fear  the  faggots  may  overwhelm  the  genuine 
voters.' 

Having  been  returned  for  Leeds,  Gladstone  was,  on 
April  5,  returned  also  for  Midlothian.  He  decided  to  sit 
for  the  Scottish  constituency  which  he  had  won  by  such 
superhuman  exertions,  and  his  son  Herbert,  defeated  in 
Middlesex,  was  popped  into  the  vacant  seat  at  Leeds. 

The  result  of  the  General  Election  was  an  overwhelming 
victory  for  Liberalism,  and  it  became  evident  that  Lord 
Beaconsfield  must  resign.  But  who  was  to  succeed  him  ? 
Since  Gladstone's  abdication  in  1875,  the  Liberal  party  in 
the  House  of  Lords  had  been  led  by  Lord  Granville,  and  in 
the  Commons  by  Lord  Hartington.  It  seemed  therefore 
that,  according  to  constitutional  usage,  the  Queen  must 
turn  to  one  of  these  two,  as  being  the  titular  leader  of  the 
victorious  party  ;  but  the  party  wanted  Gladstone,  and 
would  be  satisfied  with  no  one  else.  This  sentiment  was 
shared  by  all  except  some  half-hearted  Whigs,  and  was  thus 
conveyed  by  MacColl  to  Gladstone  on  April  12  : 

'  I  do  pray  and  trust  that  you  will  not  refuse  the  Premier- 
ship— at  least  for  a  time.     Every  post  brings  me  letters  full 

'  The  Devonshire. 

w  2 


68  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

of  anxiety  on  that  subject,  some  of  them  from  persons  whose 
names  would  never  occur  to  you — strong  Tories,  whose 
consciences  have  been  stirred  by  you  against  the  immoral 
policy  of  the  Government  and  who  have  worked  hard  on 
the  right  side.  May  I  say,  without  impertinence,  that  you 
do  not  belong  altogether  to  yourself  ? 

'1.  To  be  Premier  once  more  in  this  Parliament  of 
reparation  for  the  wrong  and  folly  of  1874  is  necessary  to 
the  historical  and  artistic  completeness  of  your  political 
career.  This  Parliament  is  your  parliament  in  a  more  per- 
sonal sense  even  than  that  of  1868. 

'  2.  Your  resumption  of  the  Premiership  is  necessary  to 
complete  the  lesson  administered  by  the  country,  or  rather 
by  Providence,  to  the  shallow,  pampered  society  of  the 
Metropolis.  Forgive  my  presumption,  but  I  shall  really 
think  that  you  will  be  flying  against  Providence  if  you  do 
not  wield  the  power  which  He  now  offers  to  you.  I  am  sure 
that  His  hand  is  in  all  this.  This  sudden  collapse  of  a  policy 
of  iniquitous  vainglory  looks  like  a  divine  judgment  hurling 
the  proud  from  their  seats  of  abused  power. 

'  3.  You  must  initiate  the  new  policy  in  the  East  as  well 
as  the  great  questions  of  home  legislation. 

'  I  always  expected  a  majority,  but  not  such  a  majority 
as  this.  I  calculated  on  50  or  60.  I  knew  London  did  not 
represent  the  country.  You  always  said  so,  and  I  had  many 
proofs  of  it.  In  my  capacity  of  secretary  to  the  Russian 
Sick  and  Wounded  Fund  I  was  brought  in  contact  with 
most  parts  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  I  knew  the  fierce 
wrath  which  was  welling  up  against  the  Government,  and 
which  only  wanted  an  opportunity  to  exhibit  its  power  and 
volume.  I  knew  the  Liberals  would  work  fanatically  against 
the  Government,  and  I  have  piles  of  letters  from  Tories, 
lay  and  clerical,  vowing  vengeance  when  the  day  of  reckon- 
ing came.  Many  causes  have,  no  doubt,  concurred  to 
produce  the  catastrophe,  but  the  predominant  cause  is  the 
immorality  of  the  Government's  foreign  policy.  That  which 
the  Government  thought  its  strength  was  in  fact  its  weakness. 
Never  did  any  set  of  men  live  more  completely  in  a  fool's 
paradise.    Lord  Beaconsfield,  I  know,  told  the  representa- 


i 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION  69 

tives  of  Foreign  Powers  in  London  that  the  country  would 
return  him  his  majority  intact,  if  not  increased. 

'  Thank  God,  his  career  is  closed.  The  verdict  of  the 
country  has  registered  "  the  catastrophe  of  a  sinister 
career  " — to  quote  his  own  phrase  in  the  debate  which 
sealed  the  fate  of  Sir  Robert  Peel's  last  Administration. 
I  have  read  everything  Lord  Beaconsfield  ever  wrote  and 
every  speech  he  ever  delivered,  and  the  impression  left 
upon  my  mind  is  one  of  unmitigated  loathing  for  the  man. 
I  do  not  know  in  English  history  any  character  of  such 
unalloyed  selfishness  as  his.  His  whole  life  has  been  one 
prolonged  lie,  and  an  evil  influence  has  been  going  out  of 
him  which  has  done  much  to  demoralize  Society  generally, 
and  the  upper  strata  of  it  particularly.' 

Lord  Beaconsfield  resigned  on  April  18.  On  the  22nd 
Lord  Hartington  had  an  audience  of  the  Queen  at  Windsor, 
and  another,  at  which  he  was  accompanied  by  Lord  Gran- 
ville, on  the  following  day.  On  the  evening  of  that  day — 
Friday,  April  23,  1880 — Gladstone  kissed  hands  as  Prime 
Minister  for  the  second  time,  and  the  '  Eastern  Question,' 
which  had  stirred  such  violent  passions,  some  noble  and 
some  base,  was  closed  by  a  rightful  triumph. 

The  foregoing  episode  in  MacColl's  life  has  been  nar- 
rated at  full — some  may  think  disproportionate — length, 
because  it  was  the  most  important  of  all  the  many  contro- 
versies in  which,  from  first  to  last,  he  was  engaged.  That 
this  was  so  was  his  own  conviction,  and  in  1884  he  wrote  : 

'  I  consider  my  part  in  the  Eastern  Question  controversy 
the  best  work  of  my  life,  and  I  will  never  do  anything 
which  implies  that  I  require  any  whitewashing  for  that  work. 
I  am  proud  of  it,  and  would  do  it  all  over  again  if  the 
opportunity  recurred.' 

Note  to  Chapter  V 

The  story  of  the  years  covered  by  the  preceding  chapter 
would  be  incomplete  without  some  reference  to  the  part 


70  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

played  by  Malcolm  MacColl  in  calling  public  attention  to  the 
iniquities  of  the  Afghan  War.  For  the  follo"v^dng  estimate 
of  his  work  in  that  direction  I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness 
of  Lord  Bryce,  O.M.  : 

'  The  Afghan  question  as  it  emerged  in  1878  was  one  of 
those  in  which  MacColl  worked  hardest  and  did  the  most 
effective  service.  A  Committee  was  formed  under  the 
Presidency  of  Lord  Lawrence,  then  a  very  old  man,  but 
\vith  powers  still  miimpaired,  to  point  out  the  evils  and 
dangers  of  the  impending  war  ;  and  MacColl  got  up  the 
facts  of  the  case  with  amazing  diligence  and  accuracy, 
ploughing  through  the  numerous  Blue  Books  and  extracting 
from  them  all  that  was  most  significant.  The  result  was  a 
book  called  "  The  Causes  of  the  Afghan  War,"  of  which  he 
was  the  chief  author,  and  which  was  then  deemed  to  be  a 
very  effective  statement  of  the  case.  It  was  widely  cir- 
culated, and  had,  I  think,  a  considerable  effect  on  public 
opinion.  In  going  over  the  ground  with  Mm,  I  was  pro- 
foundly impressed  by  the  thoroughness  with  which  he 
investigated  the  whole  matter  and  the  skill  mth  which  he 
handled  the  facts.  He  was  a  splendid  worker  ;  and  that 
it  was  not  anti-Mussulman  feehng  which  moved  him  (as 
was  alleged  against  liim  and  the  rest  of  us  who  opposed 
Disraeh's  pohcy  on  the  Eastern  Question  in  1876-78)  was 
proved  by  the  fact  that  here  he  was  stating  the  case  for  a 
Mussulman  ruler  who  was,  as  we  held,  being  unfairly  treated 
by  the  then  Government  of  India,  or  really  perhaps  rather  by 
the  Beaconsfield  Government  at  home.' 


CHAPTER  VI 

SOME    FRUITS    OF    VICTORY 

You  were  always  sanguine  that  the  country  had  '  found  out '  Lord  Beacon 
field.     But  here  in  London  people  had  not  found  him  out.  ...  I  don't  wonder 
at  your  remembermg  the  Song  of  Miriam. — R.  W.  Chukch. 

The  Liberal  victory  of  Easter  1880  was  all  that  the  most 
ardent  partizan  could  desire  ;  but  its  fruits  were  bitterly 
disappointing.  The  return  of  an  avowed  atheist  for  North- 
ampton created  difficulties  about  the  Parliamentary  oath. 
The  Tories  made  the  most  of  those  difficulties  ;  the  Speaker 
and  the  Government  alike  were  unprepared  to  deal  with 
them  ;  and  even  Liberals  forgot  religious  liberty  in  their 
dishke  of  Bradlaugh.  Incapable  government  in  Ireland  pro- 
duced a  hideous  reign  of  outrage  and  murder.  Vacillating 
counsels  in  Egypt  plunged  us  into  a  needless  and  dis- 
creditable war.  Through  all  these  troubles  MacColl  stuck, 
with  touching  loyalty,  to  his  chief,  and  was  indefatigable  in 
negotiating,  suggesting,  and  manipulating  the  Press.  These 
matters  will  be  narrated  in  due  course,  but  before  we  come 
to  them  a  word  must  be  said  about  MacColl's  personal 
position.  His  incumbency  was  a  source  of  constant  dis- 
tress to  him,  and  on  November  9,  1881,  he  wrote  to  the 
Premier's  Private  Secretary: 

'  Suppose  I  were  to  resign  my  living,  do  you  suppose 
that  Mr.  Gladstone  would  be  likely  to  present  Mr.  Hutton 
to  it  ?  Pray  do  not  imagine  that  I  am  so  very  unselfish  as 
to  wish  to  give  up  my  hving  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  Mr.  Hutton  (whom  I  have  never  seen)  to  succeed 

71 


72  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

me.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  I  think  the  brother  of  the 
Editor  of  the  Spectator,  being  otherwise  eligible,  deserves  the 
small  recognition  of  a  living  of  £300  or  £400  a  year.  Mr. 
Baxter,  on  my  suggestion,  applied  to  IVIr.  Bright  on  behalf 
of  Mr.  Hutton  ;  but  Mr.  Bright  refused  to  entertain  the 
idea.  I  do  think  the  Liberal  party  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude 
to  the  Spectator  which  they  are  slow  to  acknowledge.  When 
such  a  fervent  Jingo  and  so  thorough-going  an  admirer  of 
Disraeli  as  ]\Ir.  Rowsell  gets  a  Westminster  Canonry,  a  small 
living  to  the  brother  of  Hutton  of  the  Spectator  does  not 
appear  to  me  to  be  an  extravagant  claim.  I  at  least 
can  never  forget  the  brave  service  of  the  Spectator  to  the 
cause  of  justice  and  freedom  during  the  tyranny  of  Jingo 
domination. 

'  Still,  I  do  not  propose  to  resign  my  living  with  a  view  to 
get  Mr.  Hutton  to  succeed  me.  The  fact  is,  I  have  thought 
of  resigning  my  living  for  some  time  past.  My  church  is  one 
of  those  that  is  scheduled  to  come  down  eventually,  and 
this  fact  has  smitten  my  parish  with  paralysis.  I  had 
intended  to  utiHze  it,  out-of-the-way  and  hidden  as  it  is, 
for  week-day  services.  But  in  order  to  do  so  I  should  have 
to  get  a  surpliced  choir  ;  and  thn  t  is  impossible  without 
alterations  which  require  a  faculty  ;  and  the  Bishop  and 
parishioners  oppose  the  faculty  on  the  plea  that  it  would  be 
useless  as  the  church  is  doomed.  As  it  is,  I  get  no  con- 
gregation, and  my  Sunday  is  a  day  of  unspeakable  dreariness 
to  me.  I  am  seriously  thinking,  therefore,  of  looking  out 
for  an  eligible  curacy  where,  I  am  sure,  I  should  be  happier 
than  I  am  in  my  present  hving.' 

On  March  30,  1883,  he  wrote  to  Gladstone  with  refer- 
ence to  a  deserving  friend  whose  claims  he  had  pressed : 

'  If  it  is  quite  impossible  for  you  to  give  Mr.  G 

the  living  I  mentioned,  I  should  not  much  mind  resigning 
my  living  in  his  favour.  I  shall  resign  it  by-and-by  in  any 
case,  for  I  cannot  endure  the  dreariness  of  having  no  con- 
gregation.    Probably  ;Mr.  G would  not  mind  that  as 

much  as  I  do  ;   for  I  am  fonder  of  preaching  than  he  is. 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  73 

I  should  not  be  making  a  great  sacrifice  ;  for  I  can  make 
more  by  my  pen  than  my  living  is  worth  ;  and  I  much 
prefer  being  a  curate  to  being  a  rector  with  no  congregation. 
Moreover,  I  feel  that  it  is  morally  bad  for  me  to  go  on 
drawing  an  income  for  which  I  am  doing  nothing.' 

Taking  MacColl  at  his  word,  Gladstone  offered  him  the 
choice  of  two  livings  in  the  country.  He  declined  them 
both,  but  after  the  second  refusal  he  wrote  as  follows  to 
the  Private  Secretary : 

'April  22,  1883. — After  leaving  you  yesterday  afternoon 
I  bethought  me  that  I  had  possibly  done  wrong  in  rejecting 
Mr.  Gladstone's  suggestion  so  hastily.  One's  own  inclina- 
tion is  not  always  the  best  monitor  in  matters  of  duty.  So 
I  went  straight  to  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  (whom  I  consider 
a  man  of  singularly  sound  and  clear  judgment),  and  laid 
the  whole  case  before  him,  determined,  if  he  thought  that 
I  ought  to  accept,  that  I  would  go  back  to  Downing  Street 
and  recall  all  that  I  had  said  to  you. 

•  The  Dean,  however,  thought  that  the  following  reasons 
more  than  justified  me  in  deciding  as  I  did  : 

'  1.  The  population  is  16,000  and  the  income  £600  ; 
and  the  population  is  a  scattered  one — not  concentrated 
within  narrow  geographical  limits  like  a  London  parish. 
To  work  such  a  parish  even  decently  would  require  a 
staff  of  at  least  six  curates  at  an  aggregate  cost  of  £800  a 
year — that  is,  £200  more  than  the  whole  value  of  the  living. 
There  would  of  course  be  offertories  ;  but  to  work  the  parish 
properly  the  whole  income  would  certainly  go  before  the 
incumbent  could  pocket  a  farthing  of  it. 

'  2.  My  parochial  experience  is  confined  to  towns — I  may 
say  to  London  :  the  slums  of  Soho,  Pimlico,  and  St.  Paul's, 
Knightsbridge.  I  understand  how  to  deal  with  Londoners  ; 
but  I  have  no  experience  of  the  country. 

'  3.  I  don't  wish  to  give  up  theological  studies 
altogether;  and  it  would  be  necessary  to  do  so  in  such 
a  huge  parish.  For  as  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  parish 
would  eat  up  all  the  income,  I  should  have  to  devote  what- 
ever spare  time  I  might  have  to  writing  for  the  Press  for  an 


74  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

income.  I  would  much  rather  go  back  to  a  London  curacy 
again  ;  and  indeed  it  may  possibly  come  to  that.  I  feel 
that  I  have  wasted  twelve  years  of  my  ministerial  life  in  my 
present  parish,  and,  after  one  last  despairing  effort  to  gather 
a  congregation  from  outside  my  parish,  I  mean  to  resign  my 
living  and  take  a  West  End  curacy. 

'  But  I  don't  know  why  I  should  inflict  aU  this  on  you  ; 
for  my  only  object  in  writing  to  you  is  to  ask  you  if  you 
will  mind  telling  Mr.  Gladstone  that  I  consulted  Dean 
Church  after  seeing  you  yesterday,  and  that  he  thought 
that  I  had  come  to  a  right  decision  for  the  reasons  which 
I  have  stated.' 

In  the  following  summer  a  Canonry  of  Worcester  fell 
vacant,  and  on  August  7  MacCoU,  having  been  sounded 
by  Gladstone,  wrote  as  foUows  : 

'  The  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  advises  me  strongly  to  accept 
your  kind  offer  of  the  Worcester  canonry,  if  you  find  yourseK 
able  to  make  the  offer  formally.  The  truth  is,  when  I 
determined  to  throw  myself  heart  and  soul  into  the  Eastern 
Question  controversy  I  pretty  well  made  up  my  mind  to 
decline  any  offer  of  promotion,  should  such  be  made  to  me, 
by  the  Crown  :  partly  to  safeguard  the  purity  of  my  own 
motives  ;  and  partly  to  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  anybody 
to  say  that  I  was  influenced  by  selfish  considerations.  And 
if  I  only  had  a  congregation  in  my  parish,  I  should  be 
quite  happy  as  I  am,  and  I  should  at  once  decline  your 
most  generous  kindness  \\dthout  consulting  anyone.  But 
the  desolation  of  my  Sundays  has  become  intolerable  to  me. 
I  A\dll  therefore  take  Dean  Church's  advice,  though  leaving 
London  will  be  to  me  like  tearing  up  my  life  by  the  roots. 

'  Your  offer  took  me  so  much  by  surprise  to-day  that  I 
am  afraid  I  forgot  to  thank  you.  If  I  did,  pray  put  it 
down  to  the  true  cause,  and  believe  that  I  am  really  most 
grateful.' 

It  will  be  observed  that  this  gratitude  was  felt  for  a 
contingent  and  hypothetical  offer.  Another  was  chosen  for 
Worcester,  and  MacColl  was  left  in  the  seclusion  of  Botolph 
Lane.   But  not  for  long.    In  the  following  summer,  Gladstone 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  75 

ofiEered  him  a  Canonry  at  Ripon  ;   and  on  July  2,  1884,  he 
replied  as  follows  : 

'  I  am  sincerely  grateful  for  your  kindness  in  thinking 
of  me.  It  ia  not  the  emoluments  of  the  post,  but  the 
composition  of  the  Chapter,  that  makes  me  hesitate.  The 
Dean  is  a  good  man  ;  but  he  is  a  member  of  the  Church 
Association,  and  I  believe  that  the  rest  of  the  Chapter  are 
of  the  same  way  of  thinking.  Mine  is  a  stupid  brain 
which  becomes  stagnant  when  I  am  unhappy  ;  and  I  am 
afraid  I  should  be  unhappy  at  Ripon.  I  am  not  afraid 
of  not  being  able  to  get  on  with  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  for 
I  can  generally  get  on  with  most  people.  What  I  fear  is 
my  not  being  able  to  do  any  good  there.  The  unfruitfulness 
of  my  City  incumbency  so  weighs  on  my  conscience  that  I 
dread  to  begin  any  fresh  work  at  the  age  of  fifty  unless  I  see 
my  way  to  the  prospect  of  doing  some  good  in  it  before  I  die. 

'  There  is,  however,  as  much  responsibility  in  the  rejection 
of  such  an  offer  as  you  have  kindly  made  to  me,  as  in  its 
acceptance.  Can  you  give  me  time  to  place  the  matter  in 
the  hands  of  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and  let  him  decide 
for  me  ?  He  made  me  promise,  two  years  ago,  not  to 
reject  an  offer  of  that  kind  without  previous  communication 
^v-ith  him  ;  and  I  have  such  great  confidence  in  his  judgment. 
The  Dean  is  in  Northern  Italy,  and  I  suppose  it  would  take 
four  or  five  days  to  hear  from  him. 

'  Meanwhile  will  you  kindly  look  at  the  enclosed  note  ?  ^ 
It  is  a  specimen  of  several  similar  letters  which  I  have 
received  since  I  mentioned  your  book  in  the  Guardian. 
I  wish  you  could  see  your  way  to  a  new  edition.  I  would 
gladly  take  the  labour  of  seeing  it  through  the  press  off 
your  hands.' 

'  July  5, 1884. — I  have  just  come  from  St.  Paul's  Deanery. 
The  Dean  returns  for  certain  on  Monday^  but  not  before. 
There  is  thus  no  object  in  delaying  my  decision  till 
to-morrow.  I  therefore  give  it  to  you  at  once.  After  the 
best   consideration   that  I   can,  unaided,   give   to   all   the 

1  The  letter  was  from  the  Rev.    R.  R.  Whytehead,  suggesting  that  Glad- 
stone's  Church  Principles  considered  in  their  Eestdta  ought  to  be  reprinted. 


76  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

circumstances,  I  have  decided  to  accept.  It  is  quite  true 
that  the  promise  I  made  to  the  Dean  was  Hmited  to  the 
question  of  refusal.  I  am  not  afraid  of  getting  on  with 
the  Dean  and  Chapter,  for  I  have  never  found  any  difficulty 
in  getting  on  with  anybody,  however  different  from  myself 
in  opinions.  And  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  get  on  with  the 
Bishop. 

'  I  will  take  and  abide  by  the  Dean's  advice  in  regard 
to  my  City  living.  The  difficulty  about  it  is  the  heavy  bill 
for  dilapidations  for  which  I  am  liable. 

'  I  will  add  no  more,  except  to  thank  you  for  your  very 
great  kindness  to  me,  now  as  always.  I  shall  strive,  with 
God's  help,  to  prove  myself  not  altogether  unworthy  of  it.'  ^ 

The  foregoing  letter  shows  that,  at  this  juncture,  MacCoU 
had  some  thoughts  of  resigning  St.  George's.  However, 
other  counsels  prevailed ;  and,  instead  of  resigning,  he 
made  the  '  one  last  despairing  effort '  which  he  had 
foreshadowed,  and  set  himself  to  the  task  of  renewing 
and  decorating  his  church.  The  work  was  carried  out 
with  great  success,  and  he  began  to  see  prospects  of 
usefulness  even  in  the  City.  The  church  was  to  be  reopened 
on  Thursday,  October  30,  1884,  and  he  sought  to 
gather  his  friends  around  him.  On  the  28th  he  wrote  as 
follows  to  Gladstone  : 

'  I  am  sorry  Lord  Bath  cannot  come  to  my  Parochial 
Luncheon.  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  is  coming,  and  Lord 
Salisbury  and  Lord  Cranbrook  would  have  come  if  they 
had  not  been  summoned  on  that  day  to  attend  meetings 
of  Royal  Commissions  of  which  they  are  members.  But 
they  alloAv  me,  as  does  also  Mr.  Goschen,  to  read  the  letters  of 
sympathy  and  good  wishes  which  they  have  written  to  me. 

'  I  do  hope  you  will  be  able  to  come.  I  think  you  would 
be  interested.  You  would  find  the  meeting  an  excellent 
illustration  of  your  very  wise  and  useful  letter  to  the  Bishop 
of  St.  Asaph."     The  leading  Nonconformists  in  my  parish 

*  He  was  installed  August   IG,  18S4  ;    and  was  chosen  to  represent  the 
Chapter  in  the  Convocation  of  York  October  1,  1900. 

*  On  Disestablishment. 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  77 

will  be  present,  and  one  of  them  will  respond  to  the  toast  of 
the  Nonconformists,  which  I  intend  to  propose  myself.  One 
of  my  four  churchwardens  (who  are  all  elected  by  the  rate- 
payers) is  a  Jew.  He  also  is  a  cordial  supporter  of  the 
improvements  which  I  have  made  in  the  service,  and  will  be 
present  at  the  Luncheon  and  speak  for  himseK.  Luncheon 
is  at  1  P.M.  in  Fishmongers'  Hall,  preceded  by  Mattins  in 
my  church  at  11,  with  sermon  by  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 
If  you  could  manage  to  come  in  for  the  sermon  (about  a 
quarter  before  12)  I  think  I  can  let  you  hear  fair  congrega- 
tional singing.  I  have  had  evening  services  last  evening 
and  to-night,  which  have  been  very  well  attended  by 
City  people.  I  really  believe  that  I  can  now  fill  my  church 
to  the  door  every  Sunday.  If  you  will  kindly  come  on 
Thursday,  it  will  make  my  success  absolutely  certain,  and 
will,  I  believe,  do  good  far  beyond  the  limits  of  my  parish. 
The  presence  and  sympathy  of  both  political  parties  would, 
moreover,  be  of  immense  service  to  me  in  any  improvements 
which  I  may  attempt  at  Ripon  during  my  term  of  residence.' 

On  November  2,  1884,  MacColl's  close  friend,  R.  H. 
Hutton,  Editor  of  the  Spectator,  who  had  been  present  at 
the  reopening,  thus  described  it : 

'  Canon  MacColl  has  achieved  a  remarkable  success  in 
the  City  by  uniting  with  him  the  Nonconformists  of  his 
parish  in  an  earnest  effort  to  enlarge  the  usefulness  of 
his  church  in  Botolph  Lane.  On  Thursday  the  Dean  of 
St.  Paul's  preached  in  that  church  a  sermon  of  rare  beauty 
and  power  on  the  constant  struggle  between  the  downward 
and  the  upward  forces  at  work  in  our  world — the  steady 
decay  and  the  steady  renovation.  After  the  service  a 
luncheon  was  given  in  Fishmongers'  Hall,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Fishmongers  themselves,  in  which  the  unique 
feature  presented  itself  that  High  Churchmen  and  Dissenters 
appeared  together  in  hearty  co-operation  for  the  spiritual 
good  of  the  parish  whose  church  had  just  been  restored  and 
beautified. 

'  There  were  able  statesmen  present.  Lord  Napier  and 
Ettrick   spoke  with    an  ability  which    made  men  wonder 


78  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

at  his  habitual  silence  in  the  House  of  I^ords  :  but,  after 
all,  the  feature  of  the  festival  was  the  striking  mutual 
respect  and  goodwill  between  Canon  MacCoU  and  his 
Nonconformist  ex-Churchwarden,  whose  speech  on  the 
charity  which  there  ought  to  be  amongst  Christians  of 
different  Churches  struck  a  far  deeper  note  than  is  usual 
on  such  occasions.' 

On  December  9,  1884,  MacCoU  thus  reported  progress  : 

'  I  am  glad  to  say  that  my  experiment  in  the  City  is 
answering  admirably.  I  continue  to  get  fair  congregations 
of  City  people,  chiefly  men,  both  morning  and  evening. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  I  shall  ere  long  have  my  church  quite 
full.  It  is  rather  unfortunate  that  I  am  obliged  to  go  away 
three  months  consecutively  just  as  I  am  getting  things 
into  shape.  I  hope,  however,  to  get  a  judicious  man  and 
good  preacher  (two  essential  conditions)  as  curate.  I  have 
received  several  offers  of  co-operation  from  influential  City 
merchants,  some  of  them  strangers  to  me  personally.  I  am 
sure  there  is  a  great  work  to  be  done  in  the  City  :  and 
I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  all  the  City  churches 
may  be  filled.  I  trust  that  Scott  Holland  will  eventually 
make  St.  Paul's  his  headquarters.  He  might  be  a  great 
power  among  City  men.  They  are  eager  to  learn  and  very 
ready  to  make  themselves  useful.  On  the  whole,  I  doubt  if 
the  prospects  of  the  Church  of  England  have  been  so  bright 
at  any  period  since  the  Reformation  as  they  are  now,  if  she 
will  only  recognize  "  the  time  of  her  visitation."  ' 

All  this  was  cheerful  enough  ;  but  at  first  MacCoU  was 
not  very  comfortable  at  Ripon.  Before  a  year  was  out, 
he  had  placed  his  resignation  in  the  Bishop's  hands.i  On 
July  15,  1885,  he  wrote  thus  to  Gladstone  : 

'I  consulted  Dean  Church  and  Dr.  Liddon  before 
resigning ,  and  they  approved .  Even  apart  from  the  questi on 
of  my  successor,  I  was  thoroughly  out  of  my  element  and 

1  The  canonries  of  Ripon  are  normally  in  the  gift  of  the  Bishop ;  but 
Bishop  Bickersteth  died  on  April  15,  1884,  and,  vacante  sede,  the  right  of 
appointing  to  the  canonry  fell  to  the  Crown.  Bishop  Carpenter  succeeded 
Bickersteth,  and  it  was  therefore  to  him  that  MacCoU  resigned. 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  79 

unhappy  at  Ripon.  I  was  received  with  the  utmost  kindness 
by  everybody,  and  got  on  excellently  with  my  colleagues 
in  the  Chapter.  But  the  town  and  Cathedral  are  dominated 
by  a  type  of  Puritanism  of  which  I  have  read  in  books, 
but  which  I  never  came  across  in  real  life  before.  The 
Deans  and  Canons  are  good  pious  men  ;  but  their  idea  of 
the  Church  and  of  Divine  worship  is  to  me  a  new  religion. 
Their  great  dread  is  that  people  should  think  too  much 
of  Church  ordinances.  They  think  it  dangerous  to  have 
the  Holy  Communion  celebrated  oftener  than  once  on 
Sunday,  and  it  is  never  celebrated  on  any  other  festival 
except  Christmas — not  even  on  Epiphany  or  Ascension 
Day.  Of  course  persons  who  take  this  view  of  the  Holy 
Communion  cannot  be  reverent  in  administering  it,  though 
they  do  not  mean  to  be  irreverent.  But  the  slovenliness 
and  irreverence  and  coldness  of  the  whole  thing  always 
made  my  Sunday  to  me  a  day  of  misery  ;  and  no  schoolboy 
ever  longed  for  the  holidays  more  than  I  longed  for  the 
termination  of  my  three  months'  residence. 

'  I  could  not  tell  you  this  while  you  were  in  office  for 
fear  my  motive  might  be  misunderstood  ;  but  I  don't 
mind  telling  it  now.^ 

'  Moreover,  the  Cathedral  is  the  parish  church  of  Ripon  ; 
and  while  this  fact  adds  greatly  to  the  difficulty  of  improv- 
ing matters  in  the  Cathedral,  it  imposes  so  much  extra- 
Cathedral  work  on  the  Canon  in  Residence  that  he  has  no 
time  at  all  for  private  reading. 

'  So  you  see  I  am  really  making  no  sacrifice  in  giving 
up  the  Canonry.  I  should  be  sorry  to  obtain  any  credit 
which  I  do  not  deserve.  Nothing  could  have  been  pleasanter 
than  my  life  at  Ripon  socially.  But  "  man  doth  not  live 
by  bread  alone."  I  was  told  down  there  that  the  state  of 
Church  matters  in  Ripon  had  much  to  do  with  Lord  Ripon 
becoming  a  Roman  Catholic. 

'  Kindly  consider  all  this  as  private.     The  Dean   and 

Chapter  of  Ripon  are  very  good  and  religious  men  in  their 

own  way,  and  have  been  most  kind  to  me  ;    and  I  do  not 

wish  to  say  anything  at  all  to  their  prejudice  personally. 

*  The  Liberal  Government  had  resigned  June  24,  1885. 


80  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

They  act  according  to  their  lights,  and  the  system  in  which 
they  were  brought  up  is  responsible.' 

But  on  July  3  he  wrote  thus  from  Munich  : 

'  I  am  perplexed  about  Ripon.  The  Bishop  declines,  in 
most  kind  terms,  to  accept  my  resignation.  But  I  really 
wish  to  leave.  The  state  of  things  there  chills  and  de- 
presses me  beyond  measure  ;  and,  moreover,  the  fact  of  the 
Cathedral  being  the  parish  church  throws  so  much  parochial 
work  on  me  that  I  have  no  time  for  private  reading.  I  am 
not,  indeed,  obliged  to  do  any  work  outside  the  Cathedral. 
But  my  only  opportunity  of  doing  any  good  there  is  outside 
the  Cathedral,  and  I  could  not  let  it  slip.  During  my 
residence  there  I  started  some  work  in  the  parish,  especially 
services  and  addresses  to  working  men  on  weekdays,  which 
were  well  attended,  not  only  by  working  men,  but  by  other 
classes.  One  of  the  reasons  which  the  Bishop  gives  for 
refusing  to  accept  my  resignation  is  the  good  which  he  is 
good  enough  to  think  my  addresses  did.  The  fact  is, 
the  people  down  there  are  utterly  untaught,  and  they  are 
hungering  for  knowledge.  I  could  not  endure  my  residence 
there  at  all  except  for  my  extra-Cathedral  work.  But  the 
result  is  that  between  my  work  at  Ripon  and  in  the  City, 
my  time  for  private  study  and  writing  is  much  abridged. 

'  I  am  afraid  I  must  leave  Munich  for  London  next 
Thursday.  There  is  to  be  a  Chapter  Meeting  at  Ripon  on 
the  14th,  and  as  my  resignation  is  not  yet  accepted,  I  am 
anxious  to  attend  the  meeting.  I  have  been  trying  to  get 
up  a  Choir  School  for  the  Cathedral,  and  the  matter  is  now 
under  the  Chapter's  consideration.  I  have  also  been  trying 
to  separate  the  Cathedral  from  the  parish.  The  connexion 
does  harm  to  both.  But  I  fear  the  separation  of  the 
Cathedral  from  the  parish  is  a  more  difficult  matter  than 
the  getting  up  of  a  Choir  School.' 

Eventually  all  scruples  and  difficulties  were  removed, 
and  MacColI  retained  his  stall.  One  of  his  colleagues  in 
the  Chapter  writes  as  follows  : 

'  Great  expectations  had  been  aroused   locally  by  the 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  81 

introduction  of  so  animated  a  soul  as  Canon  MacColl  into 
the  strictly  Evangelical  and  "  quietist  "  Chapter  and  pulpit 
of  Ripon  Cathedral.  It  was  well  known  that  he  had  strong 
political  affinities  at  home  and  abroad,  and  also  that  his 
views  on  doctrine  and  his  practice  in  ritual  were  of  the 
school  designated  "  High."  There  seemed  to  be  a  prospect 
of  stirring  sermons  and  marked  innovations.  The  former 
were  forthcoming  and,  with  them,  large  congregations, 
who,  both  on  Sundays  and  on  special  weekday  occasions, 
gathered  to  hear  the  new  Canon.  He  was  not  an  orator, 
like  the  contemporaneous  Bishop,  but  he  had  stores  of  theo- 
logical and  liturgical  learning,  upon  which  he  drew,  notably 
for  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  Nicene  Creed,  afterwards  pub- 
lished and  largely  circulated.  Of  new  departures,  however, 
in  worship,  there  were  none,  while  the  Chapter  remained  as 
constituted  on  his  arrival.  Then  the  early  Celebrations  were 
on  alternate  Sundays,  as  were  those  at  midday  ;  and  in 
the  summer  months  the  Sunday  evening  services  were  sus- 
pended, though  the  Cathedral  was  and  is  the  Parish  Church. 
Time,  however,  has  brought  the  changes  in  these  respects 
which  Canon  MacColl  much  desired.  On  the  public  life  of 
the  city,  except  from  the  pulpit,  he  did  not  much  impress 
himself.  During  his  three  months  of  annual  residence, 
he  kept  mainly  to  the  Cathedral  and  to  his  study.  He  held 
that  a  canonry  is  not  so  much  for  active  sei'vice  in  a  locality, 
as  for  literary  contributions  to  the  Church  at  large.  He 
gave  evidence  before  the  Ritual  Commission,  and  he  claimed 
to  have  determined  a  vote  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  a 
book  on  the  subject,  written  as  one  of  the  said  contributions, 
and  sent  at  the  opportune  moment  to  every  Member. 

*  Personally,  in  social  life,  he  is  well  remembered  as 
most  genial  host  and  most  welcome  guest.  At  the  Residence 
were  to  be  met  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  from  Lord 
(then  Mr.  Herbert)  Gladstone,  the  serious  politician,  to  Bret 
Harte  the  American  humorist.  He  had  many  friends  and 
not  a  single  enemy — unless  it  were  the  "  Unspeakable  Turk. "  ' 

But  it  is  time  to  return  from  MacColl's  personal  fortunes 
to  his  political  activities. 


82  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

As  soon  as  the  Parliament  which  had  been  elected  at 
Easter  1880  assembled  for  its  first  Session,  it  became 
apparent  that  the  Front  Opposition  Bench,  of  which 
the  presiding  spirit  was  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  was 
remarkably  weak,  and  that  the  fighting  elements  were 
gathered  below  the  gangway.  '  The  Fourth  Party  '  became 
the  recognized  nickname  of  a  group  consisting  of  Lord 
Randolph  Churchill,  Sir  Jolm  Gorst,  Sir  Henry  Drummond- 
Wolff,  and  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour.  The  history  of  this  small 
but  most  effective  party  may  be  read  in  the  '  Life  of  Lord 
Randolph  Churchill '  and  the  ^vritings  of  Mr.  Harold  Gorst. 
A  well-meant  but  hastily  drawn  Bill,  to  pro\ade  compensa- 
tion to  Irish  tenants  arbitrarily  evicted,  passed  the  House 
of  Commons  and  was  wrecked  in  the  Lords.  There  was 
an  immediate  outbreak  of  agrarian  outrage  in  Ireland, 
and  the  Tories  began  to  demand  some  strong  measures  of 
repression.  '  The  Fourth  Party  '  was  busy,  and  MacColl 
heard  from  his  friend  Lord  Bath  of  some  designs  to  hold  a 
Public  Meeting  at  which  the  sentiments  of  that  party  should 
be  expressed.     Hence  the  following  letters  to  Gladstone : 

'November  18,  1880. — The  designs  mentioned  by  Lord 
Bath  seem  to  me,  I  confess,  too  wild  even  for  the  "  Fourth 
Party."  But  the  Tories  have  done  so  many  wild  things 
of  late  that  almost  anything  is  credible.' 

'  November  19,  1880. — I  have  just  received  a  note  from 
Lord  Bath  in  which  he  says  that  he  has  ascertained  "  that 
whatever  the  Fourth  Party  may  desire,  the  bulk  of  the 
Conservative  party  wish  for  the  present  to  remain  quiet." 
He  is  therefore  anxious  that  what  he  told  me  about  a 
meeting  in  London  shoidd  be  kept  strictly  confidential. 

'  If  there  was  any  doubt  before,  surely  there  can  be  none 
now,  that  the  Government  could  not,  if  they  tried,  carry  a 
coercion  Bill  on  this  side  of  Christmas.  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill  plainly  avowed  in  his  speech  at  Portsmouth 
yesterday  that  not  only  the  "  Fourth  Party,"  but  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote  also,  would  resist  any  attempt  to  hmit 
the  arts  of  Obstruction. 

'  Gavan  Duffy  reminds  us  that  it  took  Sir  Robert  Peel 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  83 

three  months  to  carry  his  Irish  Arms  Bill  in  1843.  Yet  the 
art  of  Obstruction  was  then  in  its  infancy  as  compared  with 
its  recent  development.' 

The  contemplated  insurrection  of  the  Fourth  Party 
came,  for  the  moment,  to  naught ;  and  MacCoU  transferred 
his  activities  to  the  ecclesiastical  sphere.  Arthur  Penrhyn 
Stanley,  for  eighteen  years  the  much-loved  Dean  of  West- 
minster, died  on  July  18,  1881.  On  August  3  MacColl 
wrote  thus  to  Gladstone  : 

'  How  would  it  do  to  translate  Dean  Church  from 
St.  Paul's  to  the  Abbey  ?  Hutton  of  the  Spectator  thinks  it 
would  be  an  admirable  appointment,  and  would  be  generally 
recognized  as  such.  It  would  be  keeping  up  the  Hterary 
tradition  of  the  Abbey  and  putting  at  its  head  at  the  same 
time  a  man  who,  I  beheve,  has  no  enemy,  and  who  would 
make  the  Abbey  as  great  a  power  at  the  West  End  as 
St.  Paul's  is  in  the  East.  No  man  in  England  is  so  well 
fitted  for  the  place  as  Church  ;  not  even  Liddon. 

*  Would  he  accept  it  ?  He  is  so  good  a  man  that  I  beheve 
he  would  do  exactly  what  he  thought  best  for  the  Church. 

'  I  apologize  for  venturing  to  make  the  suggestion. 
I  thought  it  might  be  worth  while  sending  it  to  you  as  it 
came  from  an  orthodox  Broad  Churchman  hke  Mr.  Hutton. 
I  think  it  probable  that  he  will  give  expression  to  it  in  the 
Spectator.'' 

The  following  letter,  dated  January  16,  1882,  has  an 
interest  of  a  different  kind  : 

'  Three  of  my  guests  this  evening  you  know,  namely  Lord 
Rosebery,  Sir  Henry  James,  and  Sir  William  Harcourt.  The 
rest  of  my  guests  are  Mr.  Johnstone  Bevan,  an  able  and 
learned  country  squire  and  High  Churchman  ;  erewhile  a 
strong  Tory,  but  now  an  ardent  Liberal  through  your 
exertions  on  the  Eastern  Question.  Mr.  Case,  a  distin- 
guished Oxford  man,  once  a  curate  at  All  Saints',  Margaret 
Street ;  then  a  'vert ;  studied  three  years  in  Rome  in  the 
Jesuit  College,  where  he  was  Passagha's  favourite  pupil ; 
took  his  degree  there  in  high  honours,  and  then  attended 

Q  2 


84  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Passaglia's  lectures  for  two  years  more  ;  then  joined  the 
Jesuits,  but  left  them  after  a  year's  novitiate,  and  became 
"Canon"  Case  in  charge  of  a  Roman  Catholic  congregation 
at  Gloucester.  Vaticanism  upset  him,  and  he  is  now  a 
theist  unattached.  Mr,  Cassels,  unknown  to  the  world 
at  large,  but  a  remarkable  man.  He  is  the  author  of 
"  Supernatural  Religion."  But  this  is  a  secret  which 
even  his  publisher  does  not  know.  I  discovered  it 
from  my  intimacy  with  him  and  from  our  having  often 
discussed  questions  together.  He  is  one  of  those  men 
whom  Calvinism  (the  religion  of  their  unreflecting  years) 
has  driven  into  infidelity.  He  is  very  cultivated  and  one 
of  the  best  and  most  self-sacrificing  men  I  ever  knew  ; 
unmarried,  wealthy,  fond  of  sport,  and  an  Agnostic  ;  yet 
so  pure  and  unselfish.  Is  not  the  goodness  of  such  men 
more  noble  than  that  of  most  Christians  ?  And  must  we 
not  believe,  in  the  words  of  the  "  Wise  Woman  "of  Tekoah, 
that  in  the  case  of  men  who,  like  my  friend,  do  good  with- 
out seeking  a  reward  here  or  hereafter,  God  "doth  devise 
means  that  His  banished  be  not  expelled  from  Him"  ? 

'  October  28,  1882. — Did  you  read  the  article  in  the  Pall 
Mall  Gazette  which  I  enclose  ?  ^  I  suppose  it  is  Morley's  ;  and 
yet  I  am  surprised  that  he  should  betray  such  fear  of  honest 
inquiry.  But  the  fact  is  that  some  of  the  most  eminent 
men  in  the  ranks  of  scepticism  are  themselves  guilty  of  some 
of  the  worst  faults  which  they  charge  against  theologians. 
Apropos  of  the  Pall  Mall  article,  I  have  written  an  article  on 
"  Ghost-Stories  "  in  to-day's  Spectator,  chiefly  for  the  purpose 
of  pubHshing  a  remarkable  dream  which  was  told  at  Glamis 
Castle  one  evening  lately,  when  I  was  there,  by  a  Major 
Egerton,  whom  you  may  chance  to  know.  He  is  equerry  to 
the  Duke  of  Connaught,  and  his  wife  is  lady-in-waiting  to  the 
Duchess.  The  story  is  as  well  authenticated  as  it  is  curious, 
and  I  cannot  imagine  how  Morley  would  account  for  it.' 

Parliament  had  reassembled,  after  two  months'  adjourn- 
ment, on  October  24,  1882.     The  new  Rules  of  Procedure, 

On  the  Supernatural.  ^, 


1 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  85 

rendered  necessary  by  obstruction,  were  under  discussion, 
and  on  November  2  MacColl  wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

'  I  really  believe  that  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  is  the 
coming  leader  of  the  Tory  party.  His  last  night's  speech 
strikes  me  as  far  and  away  ahead  of  any  of  his  previous 
efforts.' 

Gladstone  was  unwell  in  the  Christmas  recess  of  1882-3, 
and  Avent  to  Cannes  on  a  visit  to  Lord  Wolverton,  formerly 
Liberal  Whip.     MacColl  was  ready  with  wise  counsel. 

February  5,  1883. 

'  Dear  Lord  Wolverton, — The  Daily  Neivs  of  to-day 
says  that  it  is  not  yet  settled  when  Mr.  Gladstone  is  to  leave 
Cannes.  Could  you  not  manage  to  keep  him,  if  not  till  the 
end  of  this  month,  at  least  for  a  week  after  Parliament  opens. 
It  would  be  a  blessing  if  he  could  be  away  till  after  the 
Bradlaugh  row  at  the  opening  of  Parliament,  and  also  after 
the  (I  fear)  long  debate  on  the  Address. 

'I  know  that  there  is  a  strong  feeling  in  the  Liberal 
party  that,  for  the  sake  of  the  party,  he  should  prolong  his 
holiday  till  Easter  ;  for  it  is  not  expected  that  any  extra- 
ordinary leadership  will  be  required  before  then.  The  truth 
is,  Mr.  Gladstone's  recent  exhaustion  has  opened  people's 
eyes  to  the  calamity  of  his  possible  retirement,  and  there  is  a 
strong  feeling  that  he  should  husband  his  strength  as  much 
as  possible.  But  if  he  stayed  away  even  only  to  the  end  of 
February  there  would  be  general  satisfaction. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'Malcolm  MacColl.' 

Before  long,  Gladstone  was  back  again  in  renewed  health, 
and  was  preparing  a  Bill  to  substitute  an  Affirmation  for  the 
Oath  required  of  Members  of  Parliament.  MacColl  wrote  to 
him  on  April  18,  1883  : 

'  The  writer  of  the  enclosed  letter  is  Head  Master  of 
Woodard's  Middle  Class  Schools,  and  is  in  his  way  a  repre- 
sentative man.^    Is  it  impossible  for  the  Government  to 

1  The  Rev.  E.  G.  Lowe. 


86  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

restrict  the  Bill  to  future  elections  ?  The  retrospective 
character  of  the  Affirmation  Bill  does  not  touch  the  merits 
of  the  question,  and  therefore  does  not  affect  my  opinion. 
But  it  does  influence  a  number  of  people,  and  much  of  the 
opposition  to  the  Bill  would,  I  am  confident,  vanish  if  its 
retrospective  action  were  struck  out.  Nor  could  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh  object  ;  for  he  has,  more  than  once,  offered  to  resign 
and  stand  again,  if  an  Affirmation  Bill  were  passed. 

'  I  am  sorry  and  surprised  to  see  names  like  Mr.  Wilkin- 
son's (the  Bishop-elect  of  Truro),  Dr,  Hannah,  and  Dr. 
Stubbs  attached  to  the  petition  against  the  Affirmation  Bill. 
I  cannot  understand  intelligent  clergymen  taking  so  suicidal 
a  line.  '    ' 

'  I  think  the  enclosed  letter  will  interest  you.^  I  felt 
sure  that  Newman  would  not  take  Manning's  line  on  the 
Parliamentary  oath.  For  no  writer  has  insisted  so  often 
and  so  earnestly  as  Newman  that  half-truths,  set  forth 
as  whole  truths,  are  the  most  mischievous  forms  of  error. 
I  wrote  to  him  accordingly  to  ask  him  whether  he  did 
not  think  that  the  Parliamentary  oath  belonged  to  the 
mischievous  category  of  half-truths  ;  and  if  so,  whether 
he  would  let  me  publish  his  opinion.  Assuming  that  he 
knew  the  aim  and  object  of  the  Affirmation  Bill,  I  merely 
enclosed  a  copy  of  my  second  letter  to  the  Guardian  on  the 
subject.  His  curious  mistake  makes  his  opinion  all  the  more 
valuable  ;  for  it  shows  that  he  thinks  the  Government 
would  act  rightly  even  if  it  went  so  far  as  to  insist  on  the 
entire  abolition  of  the  oath. 

'  I  have  written  to  Cardinal  Newman  again,  and  ventured 
to  urge  reasons  why  he  ought  to  allow  his  opinion  to  be  made 
public.  But  in  any  case,  if  Manning  should  carry  out  his 
intention  of  publishing  a  Protest  against  the  Affirmation 
Bill,  in  his  own  name  and  in  the  names  of  the  English  Roman 
Catholic  bishops,  it  will  be  safe  to  call  emphatic  attention 
to  the  absence  of  Newman's  name  from  the  Protest. 

'  I  have  received  showers  of  letters  from  clergymen  all 
over  the  country  urging  me  to  circulate  a  petition  in  the 

1  See'p.  306. 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  87 

sense  of  my  letters  to  the  Guardian.  But  I  cannot  afford 
either  the  time  or  the  money  that  would  be  necessary  to 
work  such  a  petition  properly  ;  and,  besides,  it  would  now 
be  too  late. 

'  If  you  speak  on  the  Affirmation  Bill,  may  I  take  the 
liberty  of  suggesting  that  it  would  be  well  to  lay  stress  on 
the  present  oath  being  too  vague  to  offer  a  safeguard  for 
belief  even  in  a  personal  God,  much  less  in  the  God  of 
Christianity  since  the  expulsion  of  the  words  "  on  the  true 
faith  of  a  Christian."  I  know  that  this  aspect  of  the 
question  tells  with  many.  Some  of  those  who  signed  the 
Petition  against  the  Bill  have  written  to  tell  me  that  they 
would  not  have  signed  if  they  had  read  my  letters  pre- 
viously. The  clergy  are,  for  the  most  part,  like  a  flock 
of  sheep,  following  blindly  a  few  leaders.' 

Gladstone's  speech  on  the  Affirmation  Bill,  delivered 
on  April  26,  was,  by  common  consent,  one  of  his  finest 
performances.  Some  of  those  who  were  favourable  to 
the  Bill  printed  this  speech,  and  sent  a  copy  to  every 
beneficed  clergyman  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland. 
The  following  acknowledgment  was  returned  by  an  un- 
convinced divine  : 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — I  have  received  your  recommendation 
to  read  carefully  the  speech  of  Mr.  Gladstone  in  favour 
of  admitting  the  infidel  Bradlaugh  into  Parliament.  I  did 
so  when  it  was  delivered,  and  I  must  say  that  the  strength 
of  argument  rests  with  the  Opposition.  I  fully  expect  in 
the  event  of  a  dissolution  the  Government  will  lose  between 
fifty  and  sixty  seats.  Any  conclusion  can  be  arrived  at, 
according  to  the  premises  laid  doAvn.  Mr.  G.  avoided  the 
Scriptural  lines  and  followed  his  own.  All  parties  knew 
the  feeling  of  the  country  on  the  subject,  and,  notwith- 
standing the  bullying  and  majority  of  Gladstone,  he  was 
defeated. 

'  Before  the  Irish  Church  was  robbed,  I  was  nomi- 
nated to  the  Deanery  of  Tuam,  but  Mr.  Disraeli  resigning, 
I  was  defrauded  of  my  just  right  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  and 
my  wife,  Lady  Z,  the    only  surviving  child  of    an    Earl, 


88  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

was  sadly  disappointed  ;    but  there  is  a  just  Judge  above. 
The  letter  of  nomination  is  still  in  my  possession. 

*  I  am,  dear  sir, 

'  Yours  faithfully, 

'  X.  Y.  Z.' 

It  is  highly  characteristic  of  Gladstone  that,  when  this 
letter  was  shown  to  him  by  its  recipient  as  a  specimen  of 
epistolary  oddity,  he  read  it,  not  with  a  smile,  but  with  a 
portentous  frown,  and,  handing  it  back,  sternly  asked, 
'  What  does  the  fellow  mean  by  quoting  an  engagement 
entered  into  by  my  predecessor  as  binding  on  me  ?  ' 

On  November  5,  1883,  MacColl  wrote  privily  from 
Hawarden  to  the  Editor  of  the  Daily  News  :  '  As  far  as 
I  can  make  out,  nothing  is  settled  about  the  Speakership, 
or  any  rearrangement  of  Government  offices. ^  If  I  hear 
more,  I  will  drop  you  a  line.  ...  I  shall  have  more 
opportunity  of  talking  alone  with  Mr.  G.  after  most  of 
the  visitors  are  gone,  and,  if  I  hear  any  news,  I  will  let  you 
know.' 

By  the  23rd  he  was  back  in  London,  and  wrote  again 
to  the  Editor :  '  I  am  writing  to  you  just  now  to  tell  you 
in  confidence  what  may  interest  you.  I  was  calling  at 
Mr.  Gladstone's  yesterday  evening,  just  as  the  Cabinet 
Council  began  to  meet.  Mr.  Gladstone  came  into  the 
drawing-room.  Mrs.  G.  said  :  "  What  a  dreadful  piece  of 
news  this  is  from  the  Soudan  !  "  "  Yes — for  the  Eg3rptian 
Government,"  said  Mr.  G.  "  But,"  said  she,  "  will 
it  not  affect  our  position  ?  "  "  Not  in  the  least,"  said 
he.  "  It  is  a  piece  of  folly  on  the  part  of  the  Egyptian 
Government  to  attempt  to  exercise  dominion  in  that 
region."  '      i* 'f»  'J 

The  chief  event  of  1884  was  the  admission  of  the 
Agricultural  Labourers  to  the  Parliamentary  Franchise. 
Gladstone  introduced  the  Franchise  Bill  on  February  2  ; 
it  passed  the  House  of  Commons  by  large  majorities,  but 
when,  at  the  beginning  of  July,  it  reached  the  House  of 

^  In    the   following   February    Mr.   Speaker  Brand    was   succeeded    by 
Mr.  Speaker  Peel, 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  89 

Lords,  the  Lords  demurred  to  passing  it  until  they  knew 
the  details  of  the  redistribution  of  seats  which  must 
necessarily  accompany  an  extension  of  the  suffrage. 

At  this  juncture,  Mac  Coll  thought  that  he  might  intervene 
with  good  effect,  and  he  wrote  as  follows  to  the  leader  of 
the  Conservative  party  : 

July  7,  1 884. 

'  Dear  Lord  Salisbury, — I  am  going  to  take  a  very 
great  liberty — a  liberty  which  may  justly  merit  the  imputa- 
tion of  presumption  and  impertinence.  I  can  only  throw 
myself  on  your  kindness  for  forgiveness,  begging  you  to 
believe  at  least  in  my  sincerity  and  in  the  goodness  of  my 
intentions. 

'  It  has  for  a  long  time  been  a  dream  of  mine  to  see  you 
at  the  head  of  a  great  party  (when  Mr.  Gladstone  retired) 
combining  the  best  elements  in  Conservatism  and  Liberalism. 
The  controversy  on  the  Eastern  Question  was  the  fu*st  check 
which  my  hopes  received.  The  bitterness  and  antipathies 
caused  by  that  controversy  have  now,  I  am  glad  to  think, 
nearly  vanished  ;  and,  if  the  question  of  the  franchise  could 
be  settled  without  an  exciting  agitation,  I  see  no  reason 
why  my  dream  should  not  be  fulfilled.  May  I  venture  to 
put  down,  as  briefly  as  I  can,  what  I  think  on  that  subject  ? 
I  know  how  insignificant  I  am  ;  but  the  mouse  in  the 
fable  was  able  to  nibble  away  the  meshes  of  the  net  which 
had  defied  the  strength  of  the  lion.  Men  occupying  a 
humble  position  may  sometimes  have  opportunities  of  obser- 
vation which  are  not  equally  in  the  reach  of  those  above 
them. 

'  I  quite  understand  your  Lordship's  objection  to  a 
Franchise  Bill  apart  from  a  Redistribution  scheme.  The 
question  is  whether  the  danger  you  apprehend  is  likely 
to  be  diminished  by  the  summary  rejection  of  the  Bill  on 
the  Second  Reading.     Let  us  look  at  the  probabilities. 

'  If  the  Bill  is  now  rejected  it  will  unquestionably  be 
sent  again  to  the  Lords  ;  whether  this  year  or  next  is,  I 
believe,  still  a  moot  question  with  the  Cabinet.  Meanwhile 
there  will  be  a  great  agitation,  marked,  I  fear,    by  great 


90  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

bitterness  against  the  Lords  and  the  Conservative  party 
generally. 

'  It  will  be  difficult  for  the  Lords  to  yield  without  loss 
of  credit  if  the  Bill  is  sent  up  to  them  (as  it  will  be)  after  a 
strong  agitation.  I  will  therefore  assume  that  they  will 
reject  it  a  second  time.  That  would  of  course  compel  a 
Dissolution  on  the  present  Franchise.  And  then  ?  I  believe 
the  Conservatives  would  gain  considerably  in  the  Counties 
and  lose  considerably  in  the  Boroughs.  Let  us  assume  that 
the  losses  and  gains  of  the  two  parties  would  then  be  pretty 
evenly  balanced.  In  Ireland  the  Conservatives  would  lose 
much  more  than  the  Liberals  because  they  have  much  more 
to  lose.  On  the  whole  I  believe  that  the  Conservatives  would 
return  from  the  contest  with  diminished  numbers.  So 
would  the  Liberals.  The  great  gainer  would  be  Parnell. 
He  would  come  back  with  a  following  large  enough  to 
make  him  master  of  the  situation.  How  would  he  use  his 
majority  ?  Undoubtedly  I  believe  in  favour  of  the  Liberals 
until  the  question  of  both  Franchise  and  Redistribution  was 
settled.  Then  he  would  probably  avail  himself  of  the  first 
opportunity  to  turn  the  Government  out.  A  Redistribution 
Bill  proposed  under  suchcircumstances  would  be  certain 
to  be  a  great  deal  more  extreme  than  any  likely  to  be 
proposed  next  Session. 

'  The  Lords  would  then  be  powerless,  for  the  Bill  would 
be  the  response  to  the  appeal  which  they  had  themselves 
forced. 

'.But  suppose  the  Lords  were  to  pass  the  Franchise 
Bill  this  Session  ?  The  Government  would  of  course  intro- 
duce their  Redistribution  Bill  next  Session.  My  own 
belief  is  that  a  Redistribution  Bill  passed  next  Session  by 
the  present  Government  would  be  more  moderate  than  any 
which  the  Government  can  ever  propose  again,  and  also 
more  moderate  than  any  which  a  Conservative  Government 
would  be  able  to  pass.  The  Conservative  would  have  many 
allies  on  the  Liberal  side  to  make  the  Bill  a  moderate  one 
before  it  reached  the  Lords  ;  while  the  Lords  would,  in  virtue 
of  their  forbearance  now,  have  established  a  right  to  have 
a   good   deal   to  say    on    the  question  of   Redistribution, 


«OME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  91 

I  believe,  too,  that  Mr.  Gladstone's  own  views  on  the  ques- 
tion of  Redistribution  are  moderate.  When  the  secrets  of  his 
administration  are  disclosed,  I  believe  it  will  be  found  that 
his  has  been  the  most  Conservative  influence  in  his  own 
Cabinet.  It  was  certainly  so  on  the  question  of  the  Irish 
Land  Act,  He  was  one  of  the  last  men  to  give  way,  for 
example,  on  the  question  of  the  "  Three  F's."  ^ 

'  Then  consider  this.  Mi*.  Gladstone  is  weary  of  official 
life  and  longs  to  retire.  His  intention  when  he  took  office 
this  time  was  to  retire  in  two  years.  That  intention  was 
frustrated  by  the  Phoenix  Park  murders.  The  troubles 
in  Egypt  kept  him  in  office  the  following  year  and  then 
(under  pressure)  he  determined  to  remain  till  the  Franchise 
Bill  was  passed. 

'  But,  if  a  Dissolution  is  forced  on  that  question,  Mr. 
Gladstone  will  be  obliged  to  lead  his  party  in  the  General 
Election.  I  verily  believe  that  that  will  mean  a  gain  of  at 
least  twenty  seats  to  the  Liberals. 

'  Moreover  I  doubt  whether  the  new  voters  will  be  so 
generally  Liberal  or  Radical  as  many  people  imagine,  if  the 
Bill  is  passed  now.  If  it  is  rejected  now,  the  new  voters  are 
certain  to  revenge  themselves  on  the  Conservative  party  as 
soon  as  they  get  the  chance.  I  spent  part  of  the  Whitsun- 
tide vacation  at  Hawarden,  and  in  the  course  of  conversa- 
tion one  day  with  Mr.  Gladstone  I  said,  with  the  view  of 
drawing  him  out  :  "I  suppose  you  would  be  rather  glad 
if  the  Lords  threw  out  the  Franchise  Bill."  "  Glad  !  "  he 
said.  "  Why  should  I  be  glad  ?  "  "  Because,"  I  answered, 
"  there  would  probably  be  such  an  agitation  that  you  would 
be  able  to  carry  both  the  Franchise  and  the  Redistribution 
next  Session."  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  but  something  else 
might  be  carried  besides.  The  Dissolution  would  necessarily 
turn  on  the  House  of  Lords,  and  who  can  tell  where  the 
agitation  would  end  ?  Few  men  relish  a  revolution  at  my 
time  of  life." 

'  If  the  Lords  reject  the  Bill  and  a  disaster  ensue  to  the 
Conservative  party,  they  will  all  make  you  their  scapegoat, 

^  '  The  Three  F'b  '  was  a  short  way  of   expressing  Fair  Rents,  Fixity  of 
Tenure,  and  Free  Sale. 


92  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

and  my  dreams  about  you  will  never  be  realized.  You  have 
even  now  many  enemies  in  your  own  camp.  So  had 
Gladstone  for  a  long  time  ;  but  he  is  now  too  firmly  seated 
in  the  saddle  to  be  upset  till  he  chooses  to  dismount.  Your 
Lordship  has  had  no  time  or  opportunity  yet  to  establish 
your  authority. 

'  I  ask  pardon  for  my  impertinence,  and  I  beg  you  to 
beUeve  that  I  am  very  grateful  for  the  kindness  and  forbear- 
ance which  I  have  received  from  Lady  Salisbury  and  yourself. 
I  have  written  this  letter  Avithout  the  knowledge  of  any  one, 
and  I  hope  your  Lordship  will  regard  it  as  confidential. 

'  I  remain  with  much  respect,  dear  Lord  Salisbury, 
'  Yours  very  gratefully  and  sincerely, 

'Malcolm  MacColl.' 

The  amendment,  postponing  the  Franchise  Bill  till  the 
scheme  of  Redistribution  was  known,  was  carried  in  the 
House  of  Lords  on  July  8.  On  the  11th  Lord  Salisbury 
wrote  as  follows  : 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — The  extreme  pressure  of  corre- 
spondence during  the  last  few  days  has  compelled  me  to 
postpone  answering  your  letter,  till  the  issue  to  which  it 
referred  has  been  some  time  decided. 

'  I  was  not  the  less  obhged  to  you  for  the  kindness  of 
its  tone  to  me,  though,  on  reflection,  I  felt  obliged  to  take 
a  different  view  of  my  duty  from  that  which  you  had  formed. 

'  On  the  personal  question  to  which  you  give  a  good  deal 
of  prominence,  I  look  at  the  matter  from  a  wholly  distinct 
point  of  view.  The  position  which  you,  too  indulgently, 
contemplate  for  me  is  one  for  which  I  am  in  no  way  fit. 
To  be  the  leader  of  a  large  party — still  more  to  be  the 
leader  of  anything  resembHng  a  coalition — requires  in  a 
large  measure  the  gifts  of  pliancy  and  optimism  ;  and  I, 
unfortunately,  am  very  poorly  endowed  in  either  respect. 

'  Nor  again  can  I  imagine  any  motive  for  action  in  the 
fear  that  my  party,  as  you  rather  prognosticate,  wiU  throw 
me  over.  I  do  not  think  such  an  issue  by  any  means 
impossible.  But  the  idea  is  not  deterrent :  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  a  soothing  prospect  to  dwell  upon — ^like  the  mirage 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  93 

in  the  desert.  English  pohtics  keep  hold  of  those  who  are 
in  them,  because  the  framework  of  modern  life  is  so  tight 
that  men  find  it  hard  to  change  their  pursuits.  But  to 
those  who  know  EngUsh  politics  well,  they  are  not  attractive 
— their  highest  rewards  confer  no  real  power.  The  strongest 
men — you  give  me  an  instance  in  Mr.  Gladstone  and  the 
"  Three  F's  " — have  to  carry  out  ideas  that  are  not  their  own. 
And  they  fill  life  up  with  an  incessant  labour,  which  to  those 
who  are  not  blessed  with  optimism  leaves  behind  it  the 
feeling  of  an  almost  unmingled  waste  of  time.  As  to  the 
more  political  portion  of  the  question,  the  case  is  very 
simple.  I  quite  recognise  the  danger  of  defeat  which  attends 
the  course  we  have  selected.  Various  men  will  variously 
estimate  the  extent  of  that  danger  ;  but  its  existence  no 
one  can  doubt.  But  the  alternative  which  Mr.  Gladstone 
presented  to  us  was  the  absolute  effacement  of  the  Con- 
servative party.  It  would  not  have  re-appeared,  as  a 
political  force,  for  thirty  years. 

'  This  conviction,  to  which,  after  careful  study,  I  came, 
greatly  simplified  for  me  the  computation  of  risks.  An 
element  of  popularity,  more  or  less,  in  our  "  platform  " 
was  wholly  immaterial,  if  the  constituencies  were  to  be 
so  arranged,  but  our  platform  had  not  the  sUghtest  chance 
of  being  received. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

Unsuccessful  but  undefeated,  MacColl  returned  to  the 
charge  : 

'  Dear  Lord  Salisbury, — I  am  deeply  touched  by  your 
letter  ;  first,  by  your  kindness  in  writing  me  at  aU,  a  kindness 
which  I  hardly  expected,  for  I  felt  that  my  letter  to  you 
was  presumptuous  and  impertinent,  however  little  I  intended 
it  to  be  so ;  secondly,  by  your  writing  to  me  so  frankly  and 
at  the  same  time  so  fully.  I  perceive  from  your  letter  that 
I  have  laid  myself  open  to  misconception  on  one  or  two  points 
and  should  like  to  put  myself  straight. 


94  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  I  wrote  hurriedly,  and  I  cannot  recall  distinctly  all 
I  said.  But  I  did  not  mean  to  say  that  "  your  party  would 
throw  you  over  "  in  any  case  ;  and  for  the  simple  reason  that 
I  don't  think  your  party  can  do  anything  of  the  kind,  except 
with  your  own  consent.  How  could  they  ?  They  have 
nobody  of  your  intellectual  stature  to  put  in  your  place. 

'  As  I  am  writing  to  you  confidentially,  I  may  tell  you 
that  that  is  also  Mr.  Gladstone's  opinion.  I  was  with  him 
at  Hawarden  when  Lord  Beaconsfield  died.  Forster  spent 
a  day  there  at  the  same  time,  and  I  remember  a  conversation 
between  him  and  Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  subject  of  the 
Conservative  leadership.  Forster  expressed  himself  strongly 
in  favour  of  Sir  Stafford  Northcote.  Mr.  Gladstone,  who 
likes  Sir  Stafford  personally,  differed  from  Forster.  He 
said,  "  The  strongest  man  in  the  party  is  Salisbury,  and 
I  think  a  party  should  always  be  led  by  its  strongest  man. 
No  doubt,  it  is  a  great  disadvantage  to  Lord  Sahsbury  to 
be  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Still,  if  he  cares  for  the  leadership 
he  must  have  it  ;  his  party  cannot  afford  to  throw  him 
over.'* 

'  May  I  tell  you  another  anecdote  ?  In  the  year  1879 
(I  think)  I  chanced  to  dine  at  IVIr.  Gladstone's  in  Harley 
Street.  It  was  a  mixed  party  ;  there  were  several  Liberals, 
two  Conservatives,  our  foreign  Diplomatist.  During  dinner 
poor  Hayward  (who  had  a  biting  tongue)  attacked  you 
somewhat  bitterly  for  taking  office  under  Lord  Beaconsfield 
after  all  you  had  said  against  him.  Some  others  joined  in 
the  attack.  Then  Mr.  Gladstone  broke  in  and  said  :  "I 
don't  agree  with  you  at  all.  I  think  it  was  Lord  SaUsbury's 
duty  to  take  office  under  Lord  Beaconsfield,  and  I  remember 
saying  as  much  to  Lady  Sahsbury  at  the  time.  Lord  Sahsbury 
was  not  likely  to  become  a  Liberal ;  as  an  independent 
member  of  the  House  of  Lords  he  would  have  been  powerless  ; 
and  the  only  way  in  which  he  would  serve  his  country  was 
by  taking  office  in  the  only  possible  Conservative  Ministry. 
Nobody  can  dishke  Lord  Sahsbury's  present  foreign  policy 
more  than  I  do,  but  I  do  not  despair  of  him,  and  I  regard 
his  reputation  as  part  of  the  heritage  of  England."  I  do  not 
profess  to  tell  you  what  he  said  with  verbal   accuracy, 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  95 

though  I  am  sure  I  have  given  it  with  substantial  correctness. 
But  the  words  which  I  have  itahcized  are  Mr.  Gladstone's 
actual  words.  I  remember  them  distinctly,  for  they  made 
a  vivid  impression  upon  me. 

'  It  is  pleasant  to  recall  these  things  in  the  midst  of  so 
much  controversy.  I  have  often  heard  Mr.  Gladstone  speak 
kindly  of  you  in  private,  never  bitterly.  Only  two  months 
ago  I  dined  in  his  company  when  one  of  those  present  tried 
to  get  a  "  rise  "  out  of  him  in  connexion  with  your  name  !  He 
passed  over  the  question  lightly,  merely  saying  :  "  I  can't 
help  feeling  a  sneaking  kindness  for  Lord  Salisbury.  He 
has  always  interested  me.  He  did  the  very  first  time 
I  met  him  long  ago,  when  he  was  a  bright  little  fellow  not 
yet  in  his  teens." 

'  I  hope  I  am  not  impertinent  in  repeating  this.  But 
the  truth  is  that  yourself  and  JNIr.  Gladstone  are  the  only 
living  statesmen  who  interest  me  in  any  marked  degree.  I 
am  an  impulsive  Highlander,  given,  like  the  rest  of  my  race, 
to  hero-worship  ;  and  I  am  disposed  to  beUeve  in  men  more 
than  in  parties.  Mr.  Gladstone  and  your  Lordship  (if  I 
may  presume  to  say  so)  have  more  in  common  in  your 
characters  than  perhaps  either  of  you  imagine  ;  and  one 
of  the  gifts  which  you  appear  to  me  to  have  in  common 
is  an  extraordinary  faculty  for  giving  ludicrously  false 
impressions  of  yourselves  to  multitudes  of  people  who  do 
not  know  you.  I  suppose  it  is  part  of  the  penalty  which 
genius  must  pay  for  its  splendid  prerogatives. 

'  I  don't  remember  what  I  said  to  lead  you  to  suppose 
that  I  believed  your  party  "would  throw  you  over."  What 
I  meant  was  that,  if  any  disaster  befell  the  party  through 
the  rejection  of  the  Franchise  Bill,  they  would  hold  your 
Lordship  responsible  and  yield  you  a  grudging  allegiance. 
I  don't  think  it  is  within  their  power  to  throw  you  over  ; 
but  they  might  thwart  and  desert  you  on  occasions, 
while  still  professing  their  general  loyalty  ;  and  I  doubt 
whether  you  would  brook  that.  For  my  own  part,  I  do 
not  see  what  a  man  occupying  your  position  has  to  gain 
by  leading  a  poUtical  party.  I  do  not  refer  to  your  rank 
and   wealth    only,    but    also   to    those  varied   intellectual 


96  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

resources  from  which  you  would  probably  derive  more  real 
pleasure  than  from  the  worrying  pursuits  of  political  life. 

'  I  hope  the  amendment  proposed  by  Lord  Wemyss 
ofifers  a  compromise.^  Would  there  be  anything  derogatory 
to  the  Conservative  party  in  accepting  it  ?  One  thing  I  can 
tell  your  Lordship  for  certain.  The  Radicals  are  in  a  panic 
lest  Mr.  Gladstone  will  accept  it ;  and  the  advanced  spirits 
among  them  are  very  angry  with  him  for  having  left  the  door 
of  compromise  still  open  on  Friday  night.  They  believe 
that  they  have  now  the  ball  at  their  feet.  No  doubt  you 
would  be  attacked  by  that  portion  of  the  Press  if  you  were 
to  make  any  concession  now  ;  but  the  bitterness  of  this 
attack  would  be  the  measure  of  their  disappointment. 
A  leading  Radical  said  to  me  yesterday,  "  I  hope  to  God 
Gladstone  is  not  going  to  be  so  foolish  as  to  give  the  peers 
another  chance,  we  shall  never  have  so  good  a  cry  again." 

'  I  have  known  Mr.  Gladstone  since  I  was  a  boy,  and 
my  experience  of  him  is  that  he  is  exceedingly  accessible 
on  the  generous  side  of  his  nature.  If  you  were  to  find  some 
way  of  passing  the  Franchise  Bill  now,  and  then  put  Mr. 
Gladstone  on  his  honour  to  deal  fairly  with  the  question  of 
Redistribution,  I  believe  that  he  would  meet  you  half  way, 
and  would  run  the  risk  of  seriously  offending  some  of  his 
own  party  in  order  to  pass  a  fair  Redistribution  Bill.  I 
believe  that  a  more  moderate  Bill  may  be  passed  now  than 
can  ever  be  passed  again,  even  by  the  Conservatives.  I  am 
sure  that  Mr.  Gladstone  would  like  to  retire  into  private 
life  with  the  goodwill  of  both  parties.  He  is  the  only  Liberal 
leader  who  can  compel  the  Radicals  to  accept  a  moderate 
Bill.  Lord  Hartington  would  be  obliged  to  be  more  extreme 
than  Mr.  Gladstone.  In  no  other  way  could  he  secure  the 
obedience  of  the  Radical  wing,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  he  is 
himself  by  any  means  so  Conservative  as  Mr.  Gladstone. 
What  is  old,  venerable,  and  picturesque  does  not  appeal 
to  his  imagination  half  so  powerfully  as  it  does  to  Mr. 
Gladstone's.     Moreover,  Mr.  Gladstone  has  now  no  motive 

^  In  favour  of  passing  the  Franchise  Bill  at  once,  and  dealing  with 
Redistribution  in  the  autumn  Session; 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  97 

to  be  extreme.  His  oaniest  longing  is  to  be  alloAved  to 
retire  from  public  life.  Political  strife  is  no  longer  an 
exciting  pleasure  to  him  ;  it  is  a  bore.   .   .   . 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Malcolm  MacColl.' 

July  21,  1884. 

'  Dear  Lord  Salisbury, — Your  letter  to  me  the  other 
day  was  so  noble  that  I  felt  strongly  tempted  to  show  it  to 
Mr.  Gladstone. 

'  I  felt  sure  that  it  would  appeal  to  the  best  instincts  and 
feelings  of  his  nature,  and  it  always  pains  me  to  see  you  two 
whom  I  admire  so  much  opposed  to  each  other.  My  first 
impulse  was  to  write  to  you  to  ask  your  permission  to 
let  me  show  your  letter  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  but  on  reflection 
I  felt  that  I  would  thereby  be  placing  you  in  a  false  position. 

'At  last,  after  considering  the  matter  carefully  and  read- 
ing your  letter  over  several  times  to  see  if  it  contained 
anything  that  you  could  object  to  Mr.  Gladstone  seeing, 
and  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  it  did  not,  I  made  up 
my  mind  to  show  it  to  him  ;  so  that  he  might  see  that  you 
were  not  influenced  by  any  personal  considerations.  I  put 
your  letter  inside  an  envelope  with  a  note  from  myself 
begging  him  to  read  it,  but  to  let  no  eye  but  his  own  see  it, 
and  to  send  it  back  to  me  direct  from  himself.  I  took  the 
letter  myself  so  that  it  might  not  pass  through  the  hands 
of  a  secretary.  Mr.  Gladstone  took  it  with  him  into  the 
country  last  Saturday  week,  and  returned  it  to  me  from 
the  country  with  a  letter  which  you  may  like  to  see,  and 
which  I  therefore  beg  to  enclose.-^ 

July  13,  1884. 

^  '  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  have  read  Lord  Salisbui^'s  letter  with  a  great 
deal  of  interest  and  with  considerable  sj-mpalh}'  on  important  points.  I  have 
always  believed,  and  expressed  the  belief,  that  he  is  not  governed  by  personal 
ambition :  and  I  agree  strongly  with  him  as  to  the  unsatisfying  character  of 
political  life.  There  is  something  to  which  every  heart  must  answer  sympa- 
thetically in  his  remarks  on  his  own  qualities. 

'  It  has  repeatedly  occurred  to  my  mind  of  late  that  his  judgment  on  a  Redis- 
tribution Bill  may  he  (in  my  view)  warped  from  his  using  the  lights  of  his 
personal  experience  in  the  House  of  Commons  with  the  very  natural  assump- 
tion that  they  are  a  safe  guide  to  the  present  situation.  But  the  fact  is  that, 
since  ho  carried  his  brilliant  gifts  to  the  House  of  Peers,  a  change  which  may 

a 


98  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  I  hope  you  do  not  think  that  I  have  acted  dishonourably. 
It  is  my  earnest  wish  that  Mr.  Gladstone  and  your  Lordship 
should  appreciate  each  other's  virtues  at  the  beginning  of  a 
controversy  into  which  I  fear  others  will  infuse  bitterness 
enough.  I  know  that  Mr.  Gladstone  is  very  anxious  to 
keep  the  controversy  within  moderate  limits  ;  he  deprecates 
attacks  on  the  House  of  Lords.  His  letter  (which  I  enclose) 
gives,  I  think,  a  somewhat  different  complexion  to  that 
sentence  in  his  Foreign  Office  speech,^  on  which  your  Lordship 
has  more  than  once  commented — quite  fairly  in  my  opinion. 
I  have  more  than  once  heard  Mr.  Gladstone  lament  his 
own  defect  in  not  being  able  always  to  say  precisely  what  he 
means  ;  neither  more  nor  less  ;  a  faculty  in  which  he  thinks 
Lord  Palmerston  and  Mr.  Parnell  excel  more  than  any 
public  speakers  of  whom  he  has  any  experience.  The  truth 
is,  Mr.  Gladstone  takes  a  desponding  view  of  the  future 
of  the  House  of  Commons  as  a  legislative  machine,  unless 
some  large  changes  are  made  in  its  procedure.  He  believes 
that  it  will  be  extremely  difficult  for  any  Government, 
whether  Liberal  or  Tory,  to  pass  any  Bill  giving  wide  scope 
for  discussion,  if  it  is  opposed  by  a  few  men  on  the  Opposition 
side  in  combination  with  the  Irish.  He  has  often  wished 
you  back  in  the  House  of  Commons,  especially  since  Disraeli 
left  that  House.  He  beheves  it  would  be  much  easier  to 
conduct  pubhc  business  if  you  were  sitting  opposite  him. 

'  I  apologize  most  humbly  for  the  great  hberty  which 
I  have  taken,  and  I  hope  your  Lordship  will  at  least  beheve 
that  my  intentions  have  been  honourable.  I  have  no  selfish 
feehng  in  this  matter.  I  am  not  a  strong  political  partisan. 
The  only  political  questions  in  which  I  have  taken  an 
active  part  have  been  the  Irish  Question  and  the  Eastern, 

be  called  fundamental  has  come  in  among  us  through  the  growth  of  business  in 
a  measure,  but  mainly  through  the  arts  of  obstruction.  These  arts  it  is  not 
required  for  the  leaders  to  practise.  The  vain  and  obstreperous,  or  ambitious 
men,  under  a  silent  permission,  and  with  the  fine  teaching  and  intermittent 
help  of  the  Irish,  do  it  all  for  them.  The  consequence  of  this  state  of  things 
is  that  no  very  wide  and  complex  Bill  can  now  be  passed  in  defiance  of  the 
Opposition.  Hence  flows  my  doctrine  that  we  have  not  a  chance  for  a  Redis- 
tribution Bill  unless  the  Opposition  has  some  motive  for  treating  it  with  mercy. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

•  W.  E.  Gladstone.* 
1  At  a  meeting  of  the  Liberal  party  on  May  29. 


SOME  FRUITS   OF  VICTORY  1)0 

and  both  have  always  seemed  to  me  to  have  to  do  with 
morals  and  religion  as  much  as  with  politics. 

'  I  remain,  dear  Lord  Salisbury,  with  many  apologies 
and  much  respect, 

'  Yours  sincerely  and  faithfully, 

'  Malcolm  MacColl.' 

July  24,  1884. 

'  Dear  Lord  Salisbury, — I  was  present  at  the  dinner  ^ 
last  evening  at  which  Mr.  Chamberlain  spoke,  and  I  took 
some  pains  to  learn  what  the  prevailing  opinion  was  about 
your  present  political  attitude.  I  was  gratified  to  find  that 
it  was  one  of  sincere  respect.  Two  Radical  members  of 
the  House  of  Commons  told  me  that  they  respected  you  a 
great  deal  more  than  the  Conservative  M.P.'s  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  since  you  had  the  courage  of  your  convictions. 
I  know  your  conduct  also  contrasted  favourably  with  that 
of  Mr.  Disraeli  in  1867.  Your  courage  was  admired  and 
your  conduct  was  considered  thoroughly  honourable. 

'  I  have  often  been  struck  with  the  rapid  recovery  of 
popularity  which  public  men  sometimes  make  in  this 
country,  so  long  as  their  personal  character  is  respected  ; 
and  it  would  not  surprise  me  to  see  your  Lordship  very 
popular  one  of  these  days.  Your  opposition  to  the  Reform 
Bill,  1867,  extorted  the  respect  of  all  England,  and,  when 
you  went  to  Constantinople,  you  divided  with  Mr.  Gladstone 
the  confidence  of  the  British  public.  I  have  never  forgiven 
Lord  Derby  and  Lord  Beaconsfield  for  having  caused,  as 
I  believe  they  did,  the  failure  of  your  mission. 

'  I  breakfasted  with  Mr.  Gladstone  this  morning  and 
told  him  what  I  heard  said  about  you  last  evening.  "  It 
does  not  surprise  me  at  all,"  he  said,  "  Lord  Salisbury  is 
a  man  who  is  capable  of  making  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of 
his  convictions,  and  such  a  man  will  always  be  respected 
in  England." 

'I  told  him  that  I  had  sent  his  letter  to  you.  "You 
should  have  asked  my  leave  first,"  he  said.  But  I  re- 
minded him  that  I  had  sent  your  Lordship's  letters  to  him 

*  .'Kt  the  Devonshire  Club. 

H  2 


100  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

without  asking  your  leave,  and  for  the  same  reason  which 
induced  me  to  send  his — namely,  that  I  might  not  commit 
your  Lordship  in  any  way.     With  much  respect, 
'  I  remain, 

'  Yours  very  sincerely, 

'Malcolm  MacColl.' 

Lord  Salisbury  replied  on  July  26  : 

'  Dear  Mr,  MacColl, — I  have  been  so  pressed  with 
correspondence  that  I  have  not  been  able  earlier  to  thank 
you  for  your  letters.  They  concern  myself  too  much  to 
admit  of  any  comment  on  my  part  other  than  that  some  of 
the  observations  made  are  as  much  on  one  side  of  the 
balance,  as  I  trust  the  views  of  me  current  in  the  newspapers 
are  upon  the  other. 

'  I  return  your  enclosure  ^  with  many  thanks.  I  do  not 
in  the  least  disguise  from  myself  the  force  of  the  considera- 
tions adverted  to  in  the  last  part  of  it.  The  difficulty  of 
legislating  in  a  satisfactory  manner  is  stupendous.  I  am 
not  of  course  prepared  to  admit  that  the  mode  in  which 
it  was  sought  to  overcome  that  difficulty  was  permissible. 
I  am  not  sanguine  that  the  difficulty — in  our  present  phase 
of  national  existence — can  be  overcome.  It  is  symptomatic 
of  a  struggle  between  the  various  elements  of  our  society 
which  it  will  take  many  decades  to  fight  out  :  and,  till  it  is 
fought  out,  the  legislative  machine  will  not  work. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

Parliament  was  prorogued  on  August  14.  The  recess 
was  occupied  by  a  vehement  debate,  on  the  platform  and 
in  the  Press,  concerning  the  claim  of  the  Lords  to  see  the 
details  of  Restitution  before  they  conceded  the  Franchise. 
Throughout  the  autunm  MacColl  was  exceedingly  busy, 
trying,  as  ever,  to  negotiate  between  the  two  statesmen 
in  whom  alone  he  believed.  On  October  5  he  wTote  to 
Gladstone  from  Aboyne  Castle  : 

1  Gladstone's  letter  to  MacColl  on  p.  97. 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  101 

'  I  hope  the  salmon  which  I  sent  to  you  yesterday 
morning  arrived  in  good  condition.  I  caught  it  the  previous 
evening  and,  like  the  one  which  I  sent  last  year,  it  hooked 
itself  on  the  outside  of  the  mouth,  and  consequently  gave 
me  two  hours'  hard  work  before  I  landed  it,  and  a  mile's 
walk  down  the  river  ;  when  a  fish  hooks  itself  in  that  way  it 
can  keep  its  mouth  shut,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  drown 
it,  and  if  it  is  a  fresh  fish  it  takes  a  long  time  to  exhaust  it. 

'  I  am  going  to  the  Seabury  Commemoration  this  week 
in  Aberdeen, 1  and  then  home,  taking  Ripon  on  my  way  to 
attend  a  Chapter  Meeting. 

'  I  am  glad  that  Lord  Strathmore  has  left  so  favourable 
an  impression  on  you.  Lady  Strathmore  also  is  charming. 
They  were  delighted  with  your  visit  ;  and  so  were  the  Hoods. 
I  had  several  conversations  with  Lord  Hood  on  the  Franchise 
crisis.  He  is  in  favour  of  the  Lords  giving  way  if  they  can 
do  it  with  honour.  But  he  said — and  Lord  Strathmore 
confirms  it — that  the  Tories  in  the  House  of  Commons  are 
rather  more  to  blame  than  the  Tory  peers.  At  the  Carlton 
meeting  several  peers  were  in  favour  of  giving  way,  but  a 
number  of  Tory  M.P.'s  declared  that  they  would  not  stand 
again  unless  the  Lords  remained  firm.  Lord  Hood  seemed 
to  think  that  it  would  be  easier  for  the  Lords  to  give  way, 
if  you  did  not  saddle  them  with  the  entire  responsibility  of 
what  they  had  done. 

'  I  have  received  an  interesting  letter  from  Lord  Bath 
on  the  subject,  which  I  will  send  you  to  look  at  when  I  have 
answered  it. 

'  How  reckless  Lord  Salisbury  becomes  whenever  he  gets 
on  his  legs  to  make  a  political  speech  !  I  scarcely  think 
that  he  will  advance  his  cause  by  his  Glasgow  speeches. 

'  The  Prince  of  Wales  lunched  here  yesterday,  and 
dropped  a  few  cautious  observations  which  seemed  to  show 
that  he  disapproved  of  the  action  of  the  Lords.  He  was 
very  gracious  to  me.' 

The  new  Session  of  Parliament  was  opened  on  October  23, 
and  on  November  6  Gladstone  re-introduced  the  Franchise 

^  The  centenary  of  tlie  consecration  of  Samuel  Seabury  to  be  Bishop  of 
Connecticut. 


102  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Bill,  which  passed  the  Second  Reading  by  a  majority  of  140. 
MacColl  now  returned  to  Lord  Salisbury,  and  sought  a 
private  interview,  of  which  he  made  the  following  record  : 

Interview  of  M.  M.  with  Lord  S. 

November  13,  1884. 

'  M. — I  think  it  very  kind  of  you  to  let  me  come  and  speak 
my  mind  to  you  quite  frankly.  What  I  have  to  say  may  be 
of  no  value  or  importance  whatever.  Still  I  think  that  I  may 
possibly  be  able  to  place  a  few  facts  before  you  of  which 
you  may  not  be  aware,  or  direct  your  attention  to  some 
aspects  of  the  controversy  which  may  not  have  presented 
themselves  to  your  mind. 

'  ^.— That  is  very  likely.  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  what 
you  have  to  say. 

'  M. — I  know  how  valuable  your  time  is,  and  I  hope  you 
will  stop  me  when  you  think  that  I  am  saying  anything  irrele- 
vant or  useless.  I  have  come  entirely  "  on  my  own  hook," 
without  consultation  with  anybody  ;  so  that  you  must 
consider  whatever  I  say  strictly  on  its  merits.  The  first 
point  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  is  the  fact, 
which  not  a  few  Conservatives  now  admit,  that  the  great 
Conservative  force  in  the  Liberal  party  at  this  moment  is 
Mr.  Gladstone.  He  stands  between  the  Peers  and  the  deluge. 
He  told  Lord  Strathmore  at  Glamis  Castle,  with  the  earnest- 
ness of  sincere  conviction,  that,  if  a  dissolution  were  forced  on 
the  Franchise  Question,  the  question  of  the  Franchise  would 
pass  into  the  shade  and  the  House  of  Lords  would  inevitably 
come  to  the  front.  He  is  opposed  to  a  dissolution  on  this 
question  therefore,  not  because  he  anticipates  defeat,  but 
because  he  fears  a  disastrous  victory — disastrous  to  the 
House  of  Lords  and  the  Conservative  party.  You  tell  me 
that  the  effect  of  the  Government's  manipulation  of  the 
question  of  Redistribution  would  be  to  "efface  the  Con- 
servative party  for  thirty  years."  That  would  be  a  disaster 
Avhich,  I  am  sure,  Mr.  Gladstone  would  deplore  as  sincerely 
as  yourself  ;  and  it  is  just  because  he  wishes  to  avert  it 
that  he  is  so  anxious  to  settle  the  question  while  he  remains 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  103 

at  the  head  of  the  Liberal  party.  What  possible  motive 
could  he  have,  at  his  age,  in  wishing  to  ruin  your  party  for 
a  generation  ? 

'  S. — I  have  never  attributed  any  evil  motive  to  him.  He 
might  not  wish  to  injure  us  himself.  But,  powerful  as  he 
is,  he  might  be  obliged  to  yield  to  the  exigencies  of  party 
considerations. 

'  if. — And  do  you  think  that  those  considerations  are 
likely  to  be  less  powerful  when  the  Liberal  party  is  no  longer 
controlled  and  guided  by  Mr.  Gladstone  ?  He  wishes  the 
question  settled  now  in  the  interests  of  true  Conservatism. 
There  is  a  powerful  and  growing  section  of  Liberals  who 
wish  it  not  to  be  settled  till  Mr.  Gladstone  has  passed  off 
the  scene. 

'8. — I  am  quite  aware  of  that. 

'  M. — But  are  you  not  playing  the  game  of  that  party  ? 
Mr.  Chamberlain  certainly  thinks  so,  for  he  has  said  so 
pubUcly,  and  not  longer  ago  than  in  his  speech  at  the 
laying  of  the  foundation-stone  of  the  National  Liberal  Club. 
Mr.  John  Morley  has  been  equally  frank.  Besides,  if  you 
succeed  in  forcing  a  dissolution,  the  House  of  Lords  will  not 
be  the  only  question  for  which  a  drastic  solution  will  be 
clamorously  demanded.  You  may  have  a  Land  question 
for  England  and  Scotland,  more  formidable  than  that  of 
Ireland  ;  and  behind  that  again  the  Church  Estabhshment. 

'  S. — I  am  aware  of  all  the  risks  you  point  out ;  but  I 
am  not  sure  that  it  would  not  be  better  to  face  them  at  once 
instead  of  postponing  them.  They  are  sure  to  come  to  the 
front  bye  and  by. 

'  M. — But  are  they  sure  to  come  in  an  acute  form  if 
we  leave  them  to  the  natural  evolution  of  events  ?  For 
my  part,  I  do  not  see  that  Disestablishment  need  come  at 
all  if  the  Church  continue  to  advance  in  the  next  twenty 
years  as  she  has  done  during  the  last  twenty.  And  it  is 
in  the  spread  of  Church  principles  among  the  masses  that 
I  should  be  disposed  to  look  for  Conservative  safeguards 
(I  do  not  mean  in  any  party  sense)  rather  than  in  any 
artificial  distribution  of  votes.  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
democracy  of  this  country,  taking  it  in  the  mass,  is  hostile, 


104  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

like  that  of  the  Continent,  either  to  the  Church  or  to  a  terri- 
torial aristocracy.  The  House  of  Lords  is  unpopular  as  an 
institution  ;  but  I  do  not  believe  that  the  peerage  is  at  all 
unpopular  apart  from  its  legislative  functions.  Therefore 
I  do  not  see  why  you  should  be  so  much  afraid  of  the  new 
voters  in  whatsoever  way  they  may  be  distributed. 

'  S. — Perhaps  you  are  right  in  a  general  way.  But  at 
present  there  is  a  large  urban  population,  including  a  con- 
siderable number  of  miners,  who  are  Radical  in  sentiment 
and  not  much  under  the  control  of  Church  principles.  If 
these  are  thrown  into  the  rural  constituencies  as  at  present 
constituted,  the  Conservative  element  would  be  swamped, 
and  might  never  be  able  to  recover  itself. 

'  31. — But  what  will  the  effect  of  your  throwing  out  the 
Franchise  Bill  a  second  time  have  on  the  rural  population  ? 
Is  it  not  likely  to  make  them,  too.  Radicals  ?  And  will 
they  not  take  their  revenge  upon  you  when  they  get  their 
votes  ? 

'  *S^. — I  doubt  it.  That  class  of  voters  don't  appear  to  be 
much  influenced  by  motives  of  gratitude  or  resentment. 
They  did  not  show  much  gratitude  to  INIr.  Disraeh  in  the 
General  Election  after  he  gave  them  Household  Suffrage  in 
the  Boroughs. 

'  M. — That  was  because  they  knew  that  the  Bill  was  not 
Disraeli's  at  all.  And  nobody  did  more  to  enlighten  them 
on  that  point  than  your  Lordship.  You  remember  also  the 
late  Duke  of  Buccleuch's  laconic  summing-up  of  the  matter, 
just  after  Mr.  Disraeli's  Bill  became  law  :  that  when  the 
Bill  received  the  Royal  Assent  "nothing  remained  of  its 
original  shape  but  the  first  word,  '  Whereas.'  " 

'  S. — At  all  events,  you  must  not  allow  your  knowledge 
of  Borough  voters  to  influence  you  unduly  as  regards  the 
rural  labourers.  In  general,  they  are  dull,  unenlightened, 
slow  to  receive  new  impressions,  conservative  in  the  sense 
of  being  indisposed  to  change  their  traditional  habits  and 
customs.  After  one  or  two  General  Elections  they  may  come 
to  take  in  their  newly-acquired  power  and  act  accordingly. 
At  present  they  will,  I  believe,  follow  the  dominant 
influence  in  their  neiuhbourhood.     I  am  not  much  afraid 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  1U5 

therefore  of  the  effect  of  our  policy  on  the  Agricultural 
Labourers. 

'  J/. — I  have  no  experience  to  entitle  me  to  have  an  opinion 
of  my  own  on  that  subject.  But  your  Lordship's  opinion  is 
not  shared  by  all  Conservatives.  Lord  Bath  has  studied 
this  question  carefully,  and  I  know  that  he,  for  one,  is 
apprehensive  of  the  effect  of  a  second  rejection  of  the 
Franchise  Bill  on  the  minds  of  the  Agricultural  Labourers. 
However  that  may  be,  I  understand  that  you  wish  to  have 
a  dissolution  before  the  question  of  Redistribution  is  settled, 

'  S. — I  would  rather  put  it  this  way,  that  I  do  not  see 
how  we  can  let  the  Franchise  Bill  pass,  while  our  eyes  are 
blindfolded  as  to  Redistribution. 

'  i¥. — But  why  are  you  blindfolded  ?  The  Government 
have  offered  to  show  you  their  scheme,  at  least  in  its  general 
principles. 

'  S. — But  that  is  not  a  sufficient  security.  I  do  not  see 
how  we  can  go  back  from  our  claim  to  keep  the  Franchise 
Bill  under  our  control  till  such  a  Redistribution  Bill  as  we 
may  approve  of  is  secured. 

' M. — Very  well;  let  us  see  what  the  probable  result  is 
likely  to  be  of  your  dealing  w  ith  the  Franchise  Bill  in  a  way 
that  the  Government  would  regard  as  equivalent  to  its  rejec- 
tion. The  Government  is  in  possession,  and  has  a  variety  of 
courses  to  choose  from.  It  may  create  peers — a  course  which 
seemed  to  be  indicated  by  Lord  Hartington  in  his  speech 
in  the  beginning  of  October.     You  remember  the  passage  ? 

'  S. — Oh,  yes.  It  was  a  mere  hrutum  fuhnen  for  the 
purpose  of  frightening  us. 

'  M. — I  doubt  whether  it  is  prudent  to  dismiss  it  in  that 
way.  But  let  us  consider  the  next  alternative — Dissolution. 
Mr.  Gladstone  is  too  much  committed  against  a  Dissolution 
forced  by  the  peers.  So  we  may  go  to  the  third  alternative 
— Resignation.  But  a  Minister  mIio  has  the  confidence 
of  the  House  of  Commons  by  an  overwhelming  majority 
would  be  justified  in  choosing  his  ow^n  time  for  resigning  ; 
and  you  could  hardly  expect  Mr.  Gladstone  to  choose  the 
time  most  convenient  to  j'ou. 

'  S. — Certainly  not. 


106  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  M. — Suppose,  then,  that  the  Franchise  Bill  comes 
to  an  untimely  end  in  the  House  of  Lords.  What  is  to 
prevent  the  Government  meeting  Parhament  next  spring 
with  some  other  Bills,  including  a  County  Government  Bill 
which  would,  let  us  assume,  among  other  things  divide  the 
rates  between  landlords  and  tenants.  I  fancy  that  such 
a  Bill  would  be  more  Hkely  to  win  the  farmers  than  Mr. 
Chaplin's  5  per  cent,  duty  on  corn.  Meanwhile  an  agitation 
has  been  already  started  in  favour  of  a  general  reduction 
of  rents.  That  agitation  will  be  worked  against  Messrs. 
Chaplin  and  Co.  by  several  Liberal  candidates.  I  know 
one  County  candidate  who  has  got  all  the  particulars  of  the 

frequent  rises  in  Mr. 's  rents,  and  who  will  use  it  with 

great  effect.  It  will  not  be  difficult  to  persuade  the  farmers 
that  any  profit  from  a  duty  on  corn  will  find  its  way  into 
the  landlord's  pockets.  I  doubt  whether  a  resignation  even 
now  would  be  very  advantageous  to  you  in  the  counties, 

'  S, — What  do  you  say  to  South  Warwickshire  ?  ^  The 
great  victory  there  has  been  quite  as  great  a  surprise  to  us 
as  it  has  been  to  the  Liberals. 

'  M. — From  what  I  can  learn  I  do  not  gather  that  South 
Warwickshire  is  by  any  means  a  typical  election.  The 
inference  I  draw  from  it  is  precisely  the  opposite  to  that 
drawn  from  it  by  Mr.  ChapHn  in  a  speech  a  day  or  two  ago. 
South  Warwickshire  has  been  the  chief  theatre  of  Arch's 
propaganda  ;  and  the  result  is  that  the  farmers'  fear  of, 
and  anger  against,  the  labourers  have  driven  them  into  the 
Tory  camp.  Mr.  Chaplin  drew  the  extraordinary  inference 
that  the  victory  proved  that  the  labourers  of  South  Warwick- 
shire are  in  sympathy  with  the  action  of  the  House  of  Lords 
on  the  Franchise  Question. 

'  ;Sf.— I  saw  that.  He  must  have  been  misreported.  He 
could  hardly  have  said  anything  so  foolish. 

« M. — Well,  let  us  suppose  a  Dissolution  next  session  on 
the  Franchise  Question,  a  County  Government  BiU,  and  the 
House  of  Lords.  I  assume  that,  on  Mr.  Gladstone's  resigna- 
tion, you  would  form  a  Government  which  would  certainly 

1  At  a  by-election  caused  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Gilbert  Leigh,  a  Liberal, 
the  seat  was  won  by  Mr.  Sampson  Lloyd,  a  Conservative. 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  107 

include  Lord  Randolph  Cliurchill  and  Mr.  Chaplin,  and 
perhaps  Mr.  Lowther.  You  would  either  dissolve  at  once, 
or  would  be  forced  to  do  so.  Instead  of  the  safe  field  of 
aggressive  criticism,  you  would  find  yourself  on  the  defensive 
all  round,  and  would  be  confronted  by  such  questions  as 
the  following  :  Would  you  renew  the  Coercion  Act  in 
Ireland  ?  If  yes,  you  would  have  the  Irish  vote  against 
you,  everywhere.  If  no,  you  would  lose  all  the  moderate 
Liberals,  and  probably  some  Tories.  What  would  you  do 
in  Egypt  ?  Annexation  ?  Protectorate  ?  Retention  of  the 
Sudan  ?  Would  you  put  a  duty  on  corn  ?  If  yes,  you 
might  win  some  Counties,  but  you  would  lose  more  Boroughs. 
If  you  merely  promised  an  enquiry,  the  farmers  would  consider 
that  an  evasion,  and  the  public  in  general  would  conclude 
that  you  were  playing  with  a  great  question  for  mere  party 
purposes.  You  M-ould  fall  between  the  two  stools  of  Free 
Trade  and  Protection  for  corn.  You  can  hardly  expect  that 
you  would  get  a  working  majority.  Even  on  the  most  hope- 
ful assumption  you  could  only  retain  power  by  the  support 
of  the  Parnellites;  and  that  support  would  be  given  on 
terms  which  I  am  sure  you  would  not  accept.  You  would 
have  to  give  place  to  a  Liberal  Government ;  and  you  have 
meanwhile  pledged  yourself  to  abide  by  the  decision  of  the 
country  after  a  General  Election.  You  would  therefore 
be  bound  to  pass  the  Franchise  Bill  and  Redistribution  Bill 
offered  you  by  a  resentful  party  flushed  with  victory.  Can 
you  persuade  yourself  that  you  could  then  get  such  good 
terms  as  you  may  get  now  ? 

*  S. — I  see  all  the  dangers.  Still  it  is  a  choice  of  evils, 
and  I  do  not  see  how  we  can  pass  the  Franchise  Bill  without 
some  security  as  to  Redistribution. 

'  M. — What  security  do  you  require  ? 

'  S. — It  is  for  the  Government  to  make  the  next  move. 

'  M. — Is  that  so  ?  Has  not  Lord  John  Manners,  with  the 
apparent  concurrence  of  the  Opposition,  scornfully  rejected 
the  offer  of  the  Government  to  take  the  leaders  of  the 
Opposition  into  their  confidence  ? 

'  S. — I  do  not  understand  that  such  an  offer  was  made. 

'  M. — I  thouglit  it  had  been.     Is  it  impossible  for  yourself 


108  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

and  Mr.  Gladstone  to  come  together  on  this  question  ? 
I  was  in  hopes  you  might  have  been  brought  together  at 
Glamis  Castle  last  September. 

'  S. — That,  I  fear,  was  impossible.  I  might  have  got  there 
incognito  ;  but  not  Mr.  Gladstone.  His  face  is  known  at 
every  railway  station  in  the  kingdom.  And  if  our  meeting 
had  got  into  the  papers  it  would  have  done  more  harm  than 
good. 

'  M. — But  why  not  meet  noAv  and  talk  the  matter  over  ? 

'S. — ^It  is  impossible  to  meet  privately,  and  to  meet 
publicly  would  breed  suspicions  and  resentments  on  both 
sides. 

'  M. — But  can  nothing  at  all  be  done  ? 

'  S. — I  am  sorry  ;  but  I  really  do  not  see  how  we  can 
give  way. 

'  M. — May  I  tell  Mr.  Gladstone  of  our  conversation  ? 

'  8. — On  no  account.  You  must  not  even  tell  him  that  you 
have  been  with  me.  Not  that  I  should  mind  his  knowing 
all  about  it.  But  if  it  came  out  that  you  had  been  to  see 
me  first,  and  then  ]Mr.  Gladstone,  it  would  do  mischief. 
And  these  things  always  do  come  out.  In  this  matter  I  can 
keep  a  secret  better  than  Mr.  Gladstone,  because  I  need 
not  tell  it  to  anybody  ;  but  he  has  his  Cabinet  to  deal 
with  ;  and  a  secret  imparted  to  a  dozen  or  more  men  is 
certain  to  ooze  out. 

'  M. — ^If  I  have  an  opportunity,  may  I  at  least  give 
Mr.  Gladstone  to  understand,  without  quoting  you  or  saying 
that  I  have  seen  you,  that  nothing  short  of  your  seeing 
the  Government  scheme,  and  satisfying  yourself  that  the 
Government  will  deal  fairly  with  your  party,  will  satisfy 
you  ? 

'  S. — Yes.  I  have  no  objection  to  your  saying  so  much 
as  that.-^ 

'  M. — It  is  very  kind  of  you  to  listen  so  patiently  to  all 
that  I  have  been  saying,  I  hardly  like  to  trespass  any  longer 
on  your  patience. 

'  S. — Pray  go  on  if  you  have  anything  more  to  say. 

1  I  went  accordingly  that  afternoon  and  told  Mr.  Gladstone's  Secretaiy, 
E.  W.  Hamilton,  all  that  I  was  allowed  to  say. — M.  M. 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  100 

'  M. — I  am  afraid  1  may  be  taking  a  liberty.  Yet  1  think 
I  ought  to  tell  you  that  I  have  very  good  reason  to  believe 
that  a  number  of  Conservative  peers  only  want  a  decent 
excuse  to  back  out  of  the  opposition  to  the  Franchise  Bill, 
There  are  others — I  could  name  two  friends  of  your  own — 
whose  chivalrous  loyalty  to  you  may  induce  them  to  follow 
you  if  you  decide  to  reject  the  Franchise  Bill  a  second  time, 
but  they  will  follow  you  with  sore  hearts,  and  with  a  feeling 
that  you  have  used  them  ungenerously.  It  seems  to  me 
that  Providence  has  now  given  you  a  great  chance  to  retrieve 
your  political  reputation.  When  you  went  to  Constanti- 
nople I  believe  you  stood  only  second  to  Mr.  Gladstone  in 
the  confidence  of  the  public.  I  am  not  expressing  any 
opinion  of  my  own  ;  but  you  must  be  aware  that  after  your 
return  you  were  believed  by  many,  not  all  Liberals,  to  have 
sacrificed  some  of  your  convictions  to  political  ambition. 
Mr.  Gladstone  has  declared  in  public  and  in  private  that  he 
does  not  believe  that  you  are  influenced  by  political  ambition. 
So  far,  your  conduct  on  the  Franchise  question  has,  I  believe, 
done  you  good.  I  have  heard  some  Radicals  say — I  may 
mention  IVIr.  H.  Fowler  and  Mr.  Caine — that  they  respected 
the  consistency  and  honesty  of  your  conduct.  You  have 
shown  that  you  are  willing  to  risk  your  political  future,  and 
that  of  your  order,  in  defence  of  your  convictions.  Show 
in  addition  that  you  can  rise  superior  to  party  and  play  the 
part  of  a  statesman,  and  I  believe  that  you  will  at  once 
occupy  a  position  in  public  estimation  higher  than  you  have 
ever  done  yet.  Nothing  has  more  struck  me  in  English 
political  life  than  the  generosity  with  which  the  public 
forget  a  public  man's  conscientious  errors  the  moment  he 
has  turned  over  a  new  leaf.  My  great  desire  from  the 
beginning  of  this  controversy  has  been  that  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  yourself  should  understand  each  other.  I  know  that 
he  has  lately  said  some  severe  things  of  you. 

'  8. — Yes,  he  has. 

'  M. — And  you  have  said  severe  things  of  him.  Mr. 
Gladstone  has  this  excuse,  that  you  have  crossed  him  in 
love. 

'  S. — How  ?     I  don't  understand  vou. 


110  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  M. — I  believe  that  at  one  time  Mr.  Gladstone  set  his 
heart  upon  you  as  the  man  destined  to  regenerate  the 
Conservative  party  from  the  bastard  conservatism  invented 
by  Lord  Beaconsfield.     And  you  have  disappointed  him. 

'  S. — I  have  never  thought  Mr.  Gladstone  had  any 
personal  feeling  against  me.  I  have  never  doubted  his 
conscientiousness. 

'  M. — I  don't  mind  saying  to  you  that  I  did  not  like 
Mr.  Gladstone  contrasting  your  leadership  of  the  Lords 
unfavourably  with  Lord  Beaconsfield's.  I  dare,  say  I  am 
prejudiced  ;  but  I  have  no  opinion  of  Lord  Beaconsfield's 
sagacity  as  a  leader.  You  could  not,  if  you  tried,  act  more 
foolishly  than  Lord  Beaconsfield  did  when  he  persuaded  the 
Lords  to  reject  the  Compensation  for  Disturbance  Bill. 

'  S. — (Smiling.)     That  of  course  is  a  matter  of  opinion. 

'  31. — On  the  other  hand,  how  could  you  contrast  ]Mr. 
Gladstone's  leadership  of  the  Liberal  party  unfavourably 
with  Lord  Palmerston's  ?  I  regard  Lord  Palmerston  as  a 
political  charlatan,  in  spite  of  his  ability.  He  was  a  man  of 
no  convictions.  It  is  from  men  of  his  type  that  revolutions 
generally  come. 

'  S. — That  sounds  a  paradox.  Lord  Palmerston  is  gene- 
rally regarded  as  the  type  of  an  astute  and  moderate  leader. 

'  M. — I  know  he  is.  But  what  proof  did  he  ever  give 
of  constructive  statesmanship  ?  His  moderation  consisted 
in  trifling  with  great  questions  Avhich  he  ought  to  have 
settled.  What  could  have  been  more  abjectly  shallow  than 
his  dismissal  of  the  Irish  Land  question  with  the  flippant 
epigram  that  "Tenant  Right  is  Landlord  Wrong"?  He 
might  have  settled  the  question  of  Parliamentary  Reform 
and  of  the  Irish  land  on  moderate  lines  ;  and  it  is  because 
he  threw  away  his  opportunities  that  you  have  had  a 
revolutionary  Land  Act  for  Ireland,  and  that  you  are  now 
in  the  midst  of  a  political  crisis  on  the  question  of  Reform 
in  England.  It  is  in  reversing  the  hand-to-mouth  states- 
manship of  Lord  Palmerston  that  IVIr.  Gladstone  shows 
how  much  more  moderate  and  conservative  a  statesman  he 
is  ;  I  mean  in  using  his  authority  vnth  the  nation  in  setthng 
questions  on  conservative  lines,  which  if  left  unsettled  by 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  VICTORY  111 

liim,  would  have  to  be  settled  on  revolutionary  lines  by  his 
successors.  But  I  must  not  waste  more  of  your  time.  I 
cannot  tell  you  how  grateful  I  am  to  you  for  your  kindness 
in  having  allowed  me  to  speak  to  you  so  frankly  and  at  such 
length.  I  do  hope  that  matters  may  be  settled  amicably. 
'  S. — I  hope  so  too.  I  am  very  glad  to  have  had  this 
conversation  with  you,  and  I  shall  always  be  glad  to  see  you 
or  hear  from  you.' 

On  November  17  MacCoU  wrote  as  follows  : 

'Dear  Lord  Salisbury, — I  hope  that  I  am  not 
abusing  your  patience  and  good  nature  in  venturing  to 
write  to  you  once  more. 

'  I  have  been  to  Downing  Street  since  I  saw  you  ;  but, 
as  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  say  anything  which  might 
possibly  imply  that  I  had  had  any  communication  with 
you,  I  could  not  say  more  than  that  I  felt  convinced  that, 
if  you  only  got  a  guarantee  against  a  Dissolution  on  the 
new  County  Franchise  before  a  Redistribution  Bill  was 
passed,  you  would  hold  out  no  longer.  Have  you  not  got 
your  guarantee  now  ?  I  was  not  in  the  House  of  Commons 
this  evening  ;  but  I  understand  that  IVIr.  Gladstone  de- 
clared that  he  would  stake  the  existence  of  the  Government 
on  the  Redistribution  Bill  even  after  it  reached  the  Lords. 
The  Lords  will  then  have  it  in  their  power,  if  they  are  so 
minded,  to  force  a  Dissolution  on  the  present  Franchise  early 
next  year,  to  say  nothing  of  any  chance  that  may  turn  up 
against  the  Government  in  the  interval  in  the  House  of 
Commons. 

'  I  do  hope  your  Lordship  will  think  this  a  sufficient 
security.  I  hope  it  most  of  all  for  the  sake  of  your  own 
future.  So  far,  my  belief  is  that  you  have  done  yourself 
good  rather  than  harm  in  public  estimation.  Your  oppo- 
nents respect  your  conscientiousness.  Mr.  Henry  Fowler, 
a  Radical  M.P.  and  Nonconformist  to  boot,  spoke  in  that 
sense  to  me  the  other  day.     You  have  gained  much. 

'  The  Government  have  practically  conceded  your 
demand.  You  can  afford  to  accept  the  olive  branch  with 
dignity,  security  and  grace  ;   and  you  wUl  behe  all  the  talk 


112  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

about  your  rashness.  1  know  that  several  Conservative  peers 
are  only  waiting  for  a  decent  excuse  to  go  back  from  their 
vote  of  last  July  ;  and,  even  among  those  whose  chivalrous 
loyalty  to  you  will  forbid  them  to  desert  you  if  you  call 
upon  them  to  follow  you  in  rejecting  the  Ministerial  offer, 
there  will  be  some — I  know  two — who  will  follow  you  with 
a  sore  feeling  that  they  have  been  ungraciously  used. 

'  I  am  afraid  I  am  impertinent,  but  I  think  you  will  at 
least  kindly  appreciate  my  motives. 
'  With  sincere  respect, 
'  I  remain, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Malcolm  MacColl.' 

On  the  very  day  on  which  this  letter  was  written 
Gladstone  suddenly  gave  way,  and  announced  in  the  House 
of  Commons  that  he  would  be  prepared  to  settle  the  details 
of  Redistribution  in  private  conference  with  Lord  Salisbury, 
if  the  Lords  would  agree  to  pass  the  Franchise  Bill  before 
the  Session  ended.  So  the  Tories  gained  their  point  and 
the  Radicals  murmured.  The  Redistribution  Bill,  arranged 
in  its  main  principles  between  the  leaders  of  the  two  parties, 
was  read  a  second  time  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
December  4,  and  the  Franchise  Bill  received  the  Royal 
Assent  on  the  6th. ^ 

When  all  was  settled,  MacColl  sent  the  record  of  his 
interview  with  Lord  Salisbury  to  Gladstone's  Private 
Secretary,  who  rephed  as  follows  :  '  I  return  you  with  many 
thanks  this  interesting  memorandum  of  your  conversation 
with  Lord  Salisbury.  ...  I  admire  your  pluck  in  tackhng 
so  big  a  man  as  Lord  S.  unquestionably  is.  Mr.  Gladstone 
found  him  most  pleasant  to  deal  with  ;  and  one  of  the  good 
results  likely  to  ensue  from  this  historic  incident  is  that 
it  will,  I  am  sure,  tend  to  both  great  men  understanding 
each  other  better.' 

^  Twelve  years  later,  Gladstone  described  this  as  '  one  of  the  most  important 
and  delicate  crises  in  which  I  ever  was  concerned.' 


a  0 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    IRISH    QUESTION 

The  moment  the  very  name  of  Ireland  is  mentioned,  the  English  seem  to 
bid  adieu  to  common  feeling,  common  prudence,  and  common  sense. 

Sydney  Smith. 

At  the  beginning  of  1885  it  was  apparent  to  all  dispassionate 
beholders  that  Gladstone  and  his  Government  were  declining 
in  popularity.  They  had  alienated  the  Irish,  who  now  made 
common  cause  with  the  Tories,  both  in  the  House  and  in 
the  constituencies.  They  had  disgusted  some  of  their  most 
zealous  supporters  by  their  surrender  to  the  Lords.  They 
had  perpetrated  a  series  of  blunders  in  Egypt  which  rightly 
incurred  constant  Votes  of  Censure  in  Parliament,  and  those 
votes  were  only  defeated  by  ever-decreasing  majorities. 
The  Tory  party,  ostensibly  led  by  Lord  Salisbury  and  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote,  but  really  animated  by  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill,  was  hungering  for  office. ^  All  round  there  were 
signs  of  impending  disaster. 

On  May  3,  1885,  MacColl  wrote  thus  to  Lord  Salisbury  : 

'  If  I  may  take  the  liberty  of  saying  so,  I  find  evidence 
circulating  from  all  quarters  that  your  Lordship  has  vastly 
strengthened  your  position  throughout  the  country,  as  I 
always  believed  you  would,  by  your  management  of  the 
Franchise  Question.  I  wish  you  were  in  the  House  of 
Commons.' 

^  '  When  Lord  Beaconsficld  died.  Dr.  Littledale  suggested  the  following  motto 
(from  the  opening  of  Gluck's  opera,  Orfco)  for  the  Conservative  party  under  the 
'■dual  control"  of  Lord  Salisbuiy  and  Sir  Stafford  Northcote:  "Dove  andro 
senza  il  mio  Ben  ? " — M.  M.' 

113  I 


114  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

On  June  8  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach  ^  carried  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Budget,  and  some  complicated  negotiations 
between  the  leaders  on  both  sides  ensued.  While  these  were 
proceeding,  MacColl  wTote  to  Lord  Salisbury  as  follows  : 

'  I  take  the  liberty  of  sending  you,  quite  confidentially, 
the  folloAA  ing  information  : 

'  1.  I  believe  that  in  Ministerial  circles,  and  among  the 
Liberals  generally,  the  defeat  of  the  Government  is  con- 
sidered the  best  thing  that  could  happen  to  the  party  under 
the  present  circumstances,  for  the  following  reasons  : 

'  (a)  The  defeat  is  not  understood  to  mean  a  revolt  of 
any  considerable  number  of  Liberals.  There  was  no  urgent 
whip  ;  not  the  five-line  whip  on  large  paper  that  is  sent  out 
when  there  is  serious  danger  ;  but  an  ordinary  four-line  on 
ordinary  paper.  And  this  was  not  sent  out  until  Saturday 
night.  So  that  many  members  did  not  have  it  at  aU.  (I  give 
you  the  explanation  given  to  me.)  Moreover,  members 
were  allowed  by  the  Liberal  Whips  to  absent  themselves. 
Certainly  this  is  true  in  some  cases  to  my  knowledge. 
Mr.  Barran  was  allowed  on  Monday  forenoon  to  go  to 
Leeds.  A  Liberal  member  told  me  yesterday  that  he  left 
the  House  at  10  p.m.  on  Monday  "  because  he  felt  out  of 
sorts,"  not  anticipating  any  danger.  I  have  heard  of 
several  other  similar  cases.  So  much  is  this  the  case  that 
it  is  thought  in  some  quarters  that  the  Government,  as 
Mr.  John  Morley  put  it  to  an  acquaintance  of  mine 
yesterday,  "  rode  for  a  fall." 

*  That  is  not  my  own  belief.  I  am  sure  Mr.  Gladstone 
did  not  expect  danger  (though  I  beUeve  he  is  rather  glad 
at  the  result).  In  fact  a  member  of  the  Government  told 
me  as  late  as  Monday  afternoon  that  there  was  no  danger. 
He  said  a  number  of  Conservatives  would  support  the 
Government,  and  he  mentioned  Mr.  Hubbard  as  one  of  the 
Conservatives  who  intended  to  do  so.  He  said  Mr.  Hubbard 
told  him  so.  The  result  is  that  the  Government  feel  that 
they  can  rely  on  the  continued  loyalty  of  their  party  in 
any  action  they  may  take  in  opposition  ;  the  bulk  of  the 
absentees  being  eager  to  recover  their  character  with  their 

constituents. 

'  Afterwards  Lord  St.  Aldwjii. 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  115 

*  (6)  My  own  conviction  is  that,  if  the  Session  had  died 
a  natural  death,  I\Ir.  Gladstone  would  have  retired.  It  is 
believed  now  that  he  will  not  leave  the  party  in  the  lurch, 
but  will  lead  in  the  dissolution,  and  perhaps  for  the  first 
session  of  the  new  Parliament. 

'  A  Liberal  told  me  yesterday  that  this  would  make  a 
difference  of  over  a  hundred  seats  to  the  Liberals.  I  am 
not  sure  that  this  is  an  exaggeration. 

'  I  was  astonished  down  at  Ripon  at  the  failure  of  even 
the  faU  of  Khartoum  and  the  death  of  Gordon  to  affect 
Mr.  Gladstone's  popularity.  The  fact  is,  that  any  mistake 
of  the  Government  is  put  down  either  to  bad  luck,  Tory 
obstruction,  or  too  much  yielding  to  Tory  advice,  or  to 
Mr.  Gladstone  not  having  his  own  way  in  the  Cabinet. 

'  He  personally  is  acquitted.  I  don't  remember  any- 
thing like  this  in  English  politics. 

'  (c)  The  news  from  Ireland  has  grown  bad  within  the 
last  few  days,  it  is  thought  in  anticipation  of  the  Crimes 
Act  lapsing.  (This  is  authentic.  I  had  it  yesterday  from 
Mr.  Gladstone's  Private  Secretary.) 

'The  Liberal  party  is  so  little  committed  to  the  renewal  of 
the  Crimes  Act  that  they  may  take  advantage  of  any  mistake 
a  Conservative  Government  might  make  on  that  subject. 

'  The  defeat  came  just  in  the  nick  of  time  for  them  on 
that  question. 

'  (d)  It  is  generally  felt  that  the  Liberals  will  have  a 
great  advantage  in  being  the  attacking  party  in  the  General 
Election  under  Mr.  Gladstone's  leadership  ;  whereas  fighting 
on  the  defensive  without  Mr.  Gladstone  might  be  disastrous 
to  them,  largely  through  internal  dissensions. 

'  Please  kindly  consider  all  this  quite  confidential,  and 
burn  my  letter.' 

Undaunted  by  these  prognostications,  Lord  Salisbury 
accepted  the  Premiership,  and  the  new  Government  took 
office  on  June  24.  On  July  3  MacCoU  wrote  to  his 
dethroned  chief  from  Munich  : 

'  I  have  found  Dr.  Dollinger  in  wonderfully  good  health 
and  spirits,  and  not  looking  very  much  older  than  he 
did  when  I  last  saw  him  eight  years  ago.     His  hair  has 

I  2 


116  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

grown  somewhat  more  grey  ;  that  is  almost  the  only  change 
I  notice.  His  mind  seems  as  clear  as  ever.  He  enjoys 
excellent  sleep,  he  says,  and  has  an  excellent  appetite, 
and  has  had  no  occasion  to  consult  a  doctor  for  twenty 
years.  He  is  greatly  interested  in  the  poUtical  situation 
in  England,  and  asked  me  a  crowd  of  questions  with  great 
eagerness.  He  expressed  great  satisfaction  with  your 
letter,^  admired  its  "  dignity"  ;  and  thought  its  generosity 
"  worthy  of  your  high  position."  He  is  also  glad  to  conclude 
that  you  do  not  contemplate  a  very  early  retirement  from 
pohtical  life,  and  sees  no  reason  for  it  on  account  of  your 
age,  as  you  are  more  than  ten  years  his  junior.  He  has 
passed  his  seventy-sixth.  He  assured  me  that  your  visit 
to  Denmark  -  was  believed  throughout  Germany,  and  en- 
tirely by  Bismarck,  to  have  had  a  pohtical  object,  namely 
an  understanding  with  Russia  to  the  prejudice  of  Germany. 
This  is  very  absurd  ;  but  Continental  pubHcists  and  states- 
men are  sometimes  capable  of  the  wildest  absurdities  in 
respect  to  Enghsh  politics.' 

When  the  Session  of  1885  came  to  an  end,  it  was  gene- 
rally understood  that  the  General  Election  would  take  place 
in  November,  the  Register  having  been  specially  accelerated 
for  that  purpose.  In  September  MacCoU  was  staying  wdth 
Lord  Huntly  at  Aboyne,  and  on  the  16th  he  wrote  thus  to 
the  Editor  of  the  Daily  News  : 

'  You  may  take  the  following  for  gospel  : 
'  The  Government  has  had  under  consideration  for  the 
last  week  the  question  of  postponing  the  Dissolution  till 
the  New  Year.  The  reason  given  will  be  the  difficulty 
of  getting  the  registers  ready.  The  real  reason  is  that  the 
Tories  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  mil  be  beaten, 
and  the  hungry  officials  among  them  insist  on  two  or  three 
months  more  of  the  spoils  of  office.  My  information  is 
unquestionable  ;  but  it  is  confidential,  and  I  cannot  give 
my  authority.  You  may  use  it  publicly,  however,  but  of 
course  without  the  least  allusion  to  your  informant.' 

*  Addressed  to  a  meeting  of  the  Midlothian  Liberal  Association,  June  30, 1885. 
-  In  September  1883. 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  117 

In  what  was  called  the  '  Unauthorized  Programme  ' 
for  the  Radical  party,  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  most  inoppor- 
tunely raised  the  question  of  Disestablishment,  and  the 
clergy  were  up  in  arms.  On  November  11  MacColl 
expressed  his  discontent  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Salisbury  : 

'  Perhaps  I  may  take  the  liberty  of  sending  a  few  observa- 
tions to  your  Lordship  next  week  on  some  aspects  of  the 
political  situation.     Meanwhile  I  will  only  say  three  things  : 

'  1.  Mr.  Chamberlain's  extraordinary  stupidity  as  a  tac- 
tician has  damaged  him  enormously,  even  among  Radicals. 
He  seems  to  possess  a  positive  genius  for  blundering  in 
tactics.  A  man  of  ordinary  common  sense  and  humour 
would  have  seen  that  the  delicious  story  about  his  screws 
which  he  told  at  Birmingham  last  evening,  if  it  makes 
a  good  point  in  favour  of  Free  Trade,  shows  also  that 
Mr.  Chamberlain  has  more  regard  for  his  own  interest  than 
for  the  welfare  of  the  working  classes. 

'  2.  I  wish  the  clergy  could  be  stopped  from  preaching 
pohtical  sermons  and  denouncing  Dissenters  as  infidels,  for 
I  could  give  your  Lordship  several  instances  when  such 
sermons  have  injured  not  the  Church  merely  but  the 
Conservative  party  as  well.  One  of  the  most  surprising 
things  in  this  controversy  to  me  is  the  large  number  of 
Nonconformists  who  are  opposed  to  Disestablishment. 
Indiscriminate  attacks  on  Dissenters  therefore  are,  to  take 
no  other  ground,  extremely  bad  tactics. 

'  3.  I  beg  to  tender  my  thanks  to  your  Lordship  for  what, 
as  far  as  I  can  learn  from  the  papers,  is  your  wise  policy 
in  regard  to  the  Bulgarian  imbroglio.  I  have  never  doubted 
that  if  you  had  held  the  seals  of  the  Foreign  Office  in  1870-7 
instead  of  that  owl  Lord  Derby,  that  controversy  would 
have  had  a  very  different  history. 

'  Servia  seems  to  me  to  be  behaving  infamously.  Her 
Government  offered  no  opposition  to  the  Treaty  of  San 
Stefano  in  1878,  demanded  no  compensation.  Yet  the 
Treaty  of  San  Stefano,  if  I  remember  rightly,  made  a 
larger  Bulgaria  than  that  against  which  Servia  is  now 
protesting.' 


118  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Parliament,  in  spite  of  the  rumours  of  Aboyne,  was  dis- 
solved on  November  18.  When  the  Election  closed,  the 
number  of  Liberals  returned  was  just  equal  to  that  of  the 
Tories  combined  with  the  Irish.  Lord  Sahsbury  therefore 
remained  in  power,  but  his  tenure  of  office  was  manifestly 
insecure.  The  Irish  members  could  at  any  moment  displace 
him.     On  December  9  he  was  thus  addressed  by  MacCoU  : 

'  I  wonder  if  you  would  mind  taking  the  trouble  to  run 
your  eye  on  the  enclosed  memorandum  on  the  present 
political  situation,  before  I  have  the  honour  of  seeing  you  on 
Monday.  I  may  possibly  have  something  more  to  say  by 
that  time. 

'  I  verily  believe  that  the  Irish  Question  can  be  settled 
on  some  such  lines  as  I  venture  thus  hurriedly  and  roughly 
to  sketch  ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  it  can  be  settled  on 
any  other.  I  am  no  statesman,  however,  and  my  ideas  may 
be  as  foolish  as  they  are  crude. 

'  No  scheme  of  Local  Government  will  satisfy  the  Irish 
— I  mean  County  Government.  They  long  to  present 
themselves  before  the  world  as  a  Nation  capable  of  self- 
government,  and  nothing  that  falls  short  of  satisfying 
that  unquenchable  craving  will  appease  them.' 

On  December  19  the  world  was  astonished  by  an 
anonymous  paragraph  in  the  Standard  to  the  effect  that 
if  Gladstone  should  regain  the  Premiership,  he  would  be 
prepared  to  '  deal  in  a  Hberal  spirit  with  the  demand 
for  Home  Rule.'  This  wholly  unexpected  announcement 
created  an  indescribable  confusion,  perplexity,  and  excite- 
ment, alike  in  poHtical  circles  and  outside  them.  Gladstone 
held  his  peace,  and  would  neither  confirm  nor  deny  the 
change  of  front  attributed  to  him.  It  was  exactly 
the  sort  of  crisis  which  suited  MacColl,  and  his  public- 
spirited  activities  may  be  collected  from  the  following 
correspondence  : 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  December  19,  1885. — I  am  quite  sure  that  all  the  versions 
published  to-day  in  regard  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  intentions  are 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  119 

pure  speculation.  They  are  probably  based  on  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Herbert  Gladstone  to  a  friend  in  Leeds  in  which  he 
throws  out  suggestions  of  his  own  (so  I  am  told)  as  to  the 
settlement  of  the  Irish  Question.  It  is  a  great  mistake, 
however,  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Herbert  Gladstone  consults 
his  father  before  he  speaks  or  writes  on  public  questions. 
My  impression  is  this,  that  Mr.  Gladstone  has  not  as  yet 
formulated  any  cut-and-dried  scheme.  His  mind,  I  know, 
has  been  engaged  on  the  subject  at  intervals  from  the  year 
1871  ;  and  with  closer  and  more  detailed  attention  during 
the  last  few  years.  He  has  lately  been  working  out  and 
testing  every  scheme  within  the  limits  which  I  told  your 
Lordship  on  Monday  ;  ^  but  I  doubt  whether  he  has  yet 
finally  made  up  his  mind  as  to  the  details  of  any  scheme 
in  particular.  When  I  was  there  last  week  he  was  deep  in 
Burke,  a  writer  whom  he  venerates  as  a  great  master  of 
political  wisdom  on  all  constitutional  subjects.  I  regret 
the  tone  of  the  Standard  article  on  the  subject.  I  am  quite 
sure  that  Mr.  Gladstone  has  no  wish  to  obtain  a  party  triumph 
on  your  Lordship  on  this  subject.  I  am  convinced  that 
what  he  wishes  above  all  things  just  now  is  cordial  relations 
between  yourself  and  him  on  this  subject.  I  have  not  the 
smallest  doubt  of  his  sincerity  when  he  assured  me  that  a 
scheme  of  Home  Rule  proposed  by  you  on  the  lines  which 
he  indicated  "  should  have  his  hearty  support  "  ;  and  that 
he  believed  that  a  Tory  Government  had  advantages  for 
that  purpose  which  a  Liberal  Government  would  not  enjoy. 
He  feels  strongly  and  solemnly  that  the  Irish  Question  has 
arrived  at  a  crisis,  and  that  the  safest  plan  is  to  put  aside 
mere  tinkering  and  temporary  experiments  and  to  face  the 
question  boldly  and  generously.  Another  thing  which  I  am 
profoundly  convinced  is  that  the  last  thing  he  wishes  is 
to  lessen  your  political  influence  or  injure  your  political 
future.  He  is  very  much  afraid  of  Lord  Randolph  Churchill 
and  the  Tory  democrats,  and  he  has  never  abandoned  the 
hope  of  a  restoration  of  the  Tory  party,  under  your  guidance, 
to  the  general  principles  of  policy  which  guided  it  under  Sir 
Robert  Peel.     My  belief  is  that  as  Mr.  Gladstone  approaches 

*  At  a  private  interview. 


120  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

the  close  of  his  career  his  mind  goes  back  to  his  old  Con- 
servative position  with  considerable  longing.  I  Avas  struck 
with  a  speech  of  his  some  years  ago,  when  he  was  riding  on 
the  crest  of  a  wave  of  Liberal  triumph.  The  predominant 
feeling  of  his  mind,  he  said,  was  a  feeling  of  distress  and 
solitariness  when  he  looked  back  and  saw  "  the  long  proces- 
sion of  the  figures  of  the  dead,"  such  as  Sidney  Herbert,  Lord 
Cardwell,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  and  others.  He  spoke  of 
you  to  me  the  other  day  in  terms  of  great  cordiality  ;  praised 
very  highly  your  great  quickness,  grasp  and  fairness  in  your 
conferences  with  him  on  the  Redistribution  Bill  ;  and 
declared  that  he  had  never  had  a  pleasanter  man  to  work 
with.  My  honest  beUef  is  that  you  and  he  have  at  bottom 
more  in  common  than  either  of  you  have  with  any  other 
public  men  ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  unfortunate  events  of 
our  time  that  you  should  be  in  opposition  to  each  other 
instead  of  in  the  same  Cabinet.  Your  Lordship  may  have 
remarked  how  'Mr.  Gladstone  went  a  little  out  of  his  way 
in  Midlothian  to  single  you  out  from  the  rest  of  your  party 
for  special  praise,  first,  on  the  Bulgarian  Question  ;  secondly, 
for  your  implied  rebuke  of  the  speeches  of  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill  and  Sir  M.  Hicks-Beach  on  the  Irish  Question. 

'  Mr.  Gladstone  and  yourself  stand  out,  head  and  shoulders, 
above  the  rest  of  your  parties  respectively,  and  can  afford 
to  take  your  own  lines,  with  the  certainty  that  the  party 
in  each  case  7nust  follow.  You  may  depend  upon  it  that, 
whatever  line  IVIr.  Gladstone  adopts  on  the  Irish  Question, 
he  will  carry  his  whole  party  with  him.  He  will  certainly 
secure  Lord  Spencer,  Lord  Hartington,  and  Goschen ;  and 
the  extreme  wing  will  not  dare  to  revolt  even  if  they  were 
incHned.  Is  it  impossible  for  your  Lordship  and  Mr.  Glad- 
stone to  come  to  some  understanding  on  this  question  ? 
You  are  a  necessity  to  your  party.  Your  position  is  now 
so  well  established  that  there  can  be  no  move  against  you. 
There  is  nobody  among  them  who  can  approach  you  even 
as  a  respectable  leader,  and  you  have  gained  immensely 
in  the  country.  You  have  a  great  future  before  you,  but 
much  will  depend  on  your  attitude  just  now  on  the  Irish 
Question.     If  you  will  only  trust  to  your  own  inspirations 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  121 

all  will  be  well.  You  knoAv  hoM-  much  I  longed  to  bring 
yourself  and  Mr.  Gladstone  together  on  the  Franchise 
Question  ;  and  I  think  I  contributed  a  little  toAvards  that 
happy  result.  Believe  me,  what  Mr.  Gladstone  most  desires 
just  now  is  to  leave  moderate  men  behind  him  to  lead  the 
democracy.  May  I  come  to  see  your  Lordship  some  day 
next  week,  after  Monday,  if  you  should  chance  to  be  in 
town  ?  ' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

'December  19,  1885. — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  your  letter  which  I  have  read  with  very  great  interest. 

'  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  discuss  the  momentous  subjects 
with  which  it  deals,  because  I  am  not  free  to  express  my 
own  individual  opinions  alone.  I  must  only  express  such 
of  them  as  can  be  properly  put  forward  as  the  opinions 
of  the  Cabinet  at  large,  and  even  to  that  extent  I  have  no 
knowledge  that  the  Cabinet  would  desire  me  to  do  so. 
I  will  therefore  content  myself  with  acknowledging  your 
kind  letter.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  December  21,  1885. — Thank  you  for  your  very  courteous 
and  kind  letter.     I  quite  understand  your  position. 

'  Do  you  see  any  objection  to  my  addressing  you  publicly 
on  the  subject  of  Ireland,  in  the  form  of  a  short  pamphlet  ? 
I  should  write  to  you  personally  as  First  Minister  of  the 
Crown,  and  should  embody  substantially  the  views  which 
I  have  always  taken  the  liberty  of  laying  before  you  ;  but 
of  course  without  the  slightest  instruction  that  I  have  had 
any  communication  upon  the  subject  with  you.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

'December  22,  1885. — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  the  flattering  proposal  that  your  forthcoming  pamphlet 
on  the  subject  of  Ireland  should  take  the  form  of  a  letter 
to  me  ;  but  on  the  whole  I  think  it  better,  in  order  to  avoid 
possible  misconstruction,  that  it  should  take  some  other 


122  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

form.  Of  course  I  do  not  know  what  in  detail  your  opinions 
might  be,  and  I  might  find  it  difficult  to  persuade  some  of 
my  friends  that  the  fact  of  your  addressing  them  to  me  in 
that  form  did  not  indicate  a  certain  concurrence  on  my  part.' 


MacColl  to  Gladstone 

''December  22,  1885. — I  have  been  intending  to  write  to 
you  every  day  since  my  return  from  Hawarden  ;  but  I  really 
have  found  no  time.  .  .  .  What  I  wish  to  tell  you  is  my 
impression  as  to  Lord  SaUsbury's  mind  on  the  question  of 
Ireland.  I  saw  him  by  appointment  on  the  evening  of  the 
day  on  which  I  returned  from  Hawarden.  Assuming  your 
assent,  I  told  him  what  you  said  to  me  on  Monday  morning  : 
namely,  that  you  believed  the  Irish  Question  to  be  urgent, 
and  must  be  dealt  with  without  delay  (to  which  he  assented) ; 
that  you  were  in  favour  of  dealing  with  it  subject  to  the 
conditions  of  : 

'  1 .  Impunity  for  the  integrity  and  interests  of  the  Empire. 

'  2.  Ireland  to  bear  her  fair  share  of  taxation. 

'  3.  Adequate  security  for  the  minority  ;  that  if  he  saw 
his  way  of  proposing  legislation  on  those  lines  he  should 
have  your  hearty  support ;  otherwise  that  you  would  con- 
sider your  hands  free.  He  listened  most  attentively,  and 
then  said  :  "I  consider  your  scheme  the  most  logical 
and  complete  of  any  that  I  have  seen."  He  meant  a 
Memorandum  which  I  took  the  liberty  of  sending  to  him  on 
the  Irish  Question  before  I  went  to  Hawarden.  I  am  not 
going  to  trouble  you  with  a  detailed  account  of  that 
Memorandum  further  than  to  say  that  it  embraced  a  Parlia- 
ment in  Dubhn  as  part  of  a  scheme  of  General  Federation, 
beginning  with  Ireland  and  gradually  extending  to  the 
rest  of  the  Empire.  It  also  embraced  a  radical  reform  of 
the  House  of  Lords.  I  feel  strongly  that  most  of  the 
objections  to  a  large  scheme  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland  would 
vanish  if  it  formed  part  of  a  wider  scheme  to  follow. 

'  I  found  Lord  Sahsbury,  as  I  gathered,  prepared  to  go 
as  far  probably  as  yourself  on  the  question  of  Home  Rule  ; 
but  he  seemed  hopeless  as  to  the  prospect  of  carrying  his 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  123 

party  with  him.  In  the  course  of  our  conversation  I  said 
to  him  :  "If  you  propose  a  large  scheme  of  Home  Rule, 
I  am  sure  that  Mr.  Gladstone  will  help  you  to  carry  it, 
provided  of  course  that  it  is  up  to  and  within  the  limits 
which  he  thinks  necessary  and  safe.  At  the  same  time  your 
party  would  be  in  this  dilemma.  They  would  feel  that  no 
scheme  short  of  yours  could  ever  again  be  proposed  ;  and 
they  would  say  to  themselves  :  '  After  all,  is  it  not  better, 
since  we  can  never  now  expect  a  smaller  scheme,  to  help 
our  own  party  to  pass  it  ?  '  Would  not  your  followers  and 
colleagues  be  likely  to  reason  in  that  manner  ?  "  I  asked. 
"  Perhaps  they  would,"  he  replied,  "  but  they  would 
devour  me."  He  spoke  in  the  most  friendly  way  about 
you,  and  I  left  him  with  the  impression  that  he  quite  realized 
the  gravity  of  the  Irish  Question  ;  that  personally  he  would 
not  shrink  from  grapphng  with  it  in  a  bold  and  hberal  spirit ; 
but  that  he  despaired  of  carrying  his  party  with  him. 

'  After  the  publication  of  the  scheme  of  Home  Rule 
attributed  to  you,  I  wrote  to  Lord  Salisbury  to  express 
my  belief  that  you  had  not  as  yet  formulated  any  detailed 
scheme,  still  less  authorized  the  publication  of  any  scheme 
as  yours,  however  clear  you  might  be  in  your  own  mind  as 
to  the  general  lines  on  which  any  scheme  that  promised 
success  should  go.  I  also  expressed  the  strongest  con- 
viction that  it  was  of  capital  importance  in  this  crisis  that 
you  and  he  should  act  cordially  together  with  a  single  eye 
to  interests  of  the  Empire.  I  also  took  the  liberty  of 
expressing  a  very  strong  opinion  that  it  would  be  far  better 
to  offer  the  Irish  nothing  at  all  than  anything  short  of 
a  Parliament  in  Dublin  ;  and  stated  reasons  (with  which 
I  will  not  trouble  you)  to  show  that  the  safest  concession 
would  be  a  Parliament  in  Dublin  ;  any  smaller  concession 
like  County  Boards  or  Provincial  Councils  being  certain  to 
prove  facile  tools  in  Parnell's  hands,  while  a  Parliament  in 
Dublin  would  speedily  develop  an  Opposition  party  and 
compel  Parnell  to  become  leader  of  a  party  of  law  and  order. 

'  I  enclose  Lord  Salisbury's  reply,  not  because  it  contains 
any  information,  but  because  it  shows  a  friendly  disposition 
towards  a  liberal  discussion  of  the  question  of  Home  Rule, 


124  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

and  also  because  it  shows,  as  I  think,  that  he  is  himself  in 
advance  of  his  Cabinet. 

'  Kindly  consider  all  this  confidential.  What  an  inert 
mass  of  transmitted  prejudices  on  this  question  lies  like  an 
incubus  on  the  minds  of  most  educated  people  in  England ! 
Even  my  good  friends  at  the  Spectator  office  are  impervious 
to  reasoning.  But  I  don't  despair.  The  constituencies  are 
less  prejudiced  and  more  open  to  the  reception  of  light.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

^December  24,  1885. — To  prevent  mistake  or  mischief  in 
the  present  state  of  influenced  feeling  I  thought  it  right  to 
let  Mr.  Gladstone  know,  two  days  ago,  that  I  had  put  your 
Lordship  in  possession  of  his  views  on  the  Irish  Question  as 
far  as  I  knew  them.  I  have  heard  from  him  to-day.  ...  In 
his  letter  he  says :  "I  am  only  anxious  it  should  be  clearly 
understood  that,  while  you  stated  to  him  "  (i.e.  to  your 
Lordship)  "  what  you  conceived  to  be  the  manifest  purport 
of  my  conversation  w^ith  you,  you  had  no  authority,  and  con- 
veyed no  message  from  me.  Unless  you  are  quite  sure  that 
Lord  S.  clearly  understands  this,  I  beg  you  to  convey 
it  to  him.  I  say  nothing  adverse  to  the  accuracy  of  your 
account.  It  was  an  account  given  on  your  responsibility  of 
what  you  conceived  to  be  my  present  view."  He  goes  on  to 
add  that  he  "  has  given  no  human  being  "  any  authority 
to  put  forth  any  intentions  of  his  on  the  Irish  Question. 

'  I  suppose  that  ]\ir.  Gladstone  is  sensitive  about  his 
being  supposed  to  move  in  this  matter  without  consultation 
with  his  colleagues.  I  never  believed  that  he  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  schemes  published  as  his.  I  did  not  intend 
to  convey  any  message  from  him  to  your  Lordship,  and 
I  hope  I  did  not  give  you  the  impression  that  I  did.  I  am 
sorry  to  trouble  you,  but  I  am  nervously  anxious  not  to 
do  mischief  at  this  grave  crisis.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

'  December  25,  1885. — I  quite  agree  with  you  that  it  is 
very  difficult  to  say  anything  at  this  juncture  without  risk 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  125 

of  being  misunderstood.     But  I  did  not  in  the  least  mis- 
understand the  purport  of  your  observations  on  Monday. 

'  You  told  me  more  than  once  that  you  were  speaking 
entirely  on  your  own  authority.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

^December  28,  1885. — I  received  the  enclosed  letter 
from  Lord  Salisbury  this  morning.  I  was  very  careful 
not  to  commit  you  to  anything  ;  all  I  told  Lord  Salis- 
bury— indeed  all  I  knew — hardly  went  beyond  your 
public  utterances  on  the  subject  of  Ireland.  The  impression 
you  left  on  my  mind  was  that  you  were  not  in  favour  of 
a  Parliament  in  Dublin  ;  but  you  said  nothing  to  justify 
me  in  drawing  any  positive  conclusion  either  way.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  have  an  impression  that  Lord  Salisbury 
would  not  absolutely  refuse  to  consider  the  question  of  a 
Parliament  in  Dublin  on  certain  conditions  ;  but  my  im- 
pression may  be  wrong,  and  I  have  no  right  to  commit  him 
either  way. 

'  How  slow  the  English  mind,  especially  in  educated 
society,  is  to  turn  itself  to  a  fresh  point  of  view  on  political 
questions  !  Yet  it  sometimes  undergoes  a  rapid  conversion, 
and  I  should  not  wonder  if  it  did  on  this  question  of  Home 
Rule.     The  mass  of  people  are  very  ignorant  of  Irish  matters. 

'  I  wish  you,  with  all  my  heart,  many  happy  returns  of 
your  birthday,  and  I  still  live  in  hope  that  you  will  crown 
your  great  political  career  by  settling  the  Irish  Question  on 
a  durable  and  happy  basis.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'December  28,  1885. — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  your  kindness  in  taking  the  trouble  to  write  to  me  ; 
and  I  am  very  glad  to  find  that  I  have  done  no  mischief. 

'  There  is  a  sentence  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  letter  to  me, 
from  which  I  made  a  quotation  in  my  last  letter  to  your 
Lordship,  which  I  think  I  ought  to  send  you.  After  saying 
that  he  had  authorized  nobody  to  put  forth  any  views  of 
his  on  the  Irish  Question,  he  adds  that  he  has  never  given 


126  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

even  any  "  indication  "  of  views  or  intentions  that  could 
commit  him  to  anything  beyond  this  :  "If  the  Government 
take  up  the  question,  my  desire  is  to  give  them  the  best  aid 
that  with  reasonable  freedom  of  judgment  I  may." 

'  My  own  fear,  I  confess,  is,  and  has  always  been,  that 
Mr.  Gladstone  will  not  go  far  enough  in  the  direction  of 
Home  Rule.  Certainly  the  impression  which  I  brought  away 
with  me  from  Hawarden  was  that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  not  in 
favour  of  a  Parliament  in  Dublin.  I  inferred  this  from  his 
rejecting  the  Canadian  scheme  ;  from  his  objection  (as  I 
understood  him)  to  any  form  of  Grattan's  Parliament  ;  and 
above  all,  from  the  anecdote  he  told  me  of  Sir  Robert  Peel 
bidding  him  to  "  put  away  "  his  grand  schemes  of  financial 
reconstruction,  and  "  work  on  the  materials  at  hand."  The 
two  points  on  which  he  seemed  to  feel  most  strongly  were 
that  an  honest  attempt  to  settle  the  question  in  this  Parlia- 
ment— or  rather  to  deal  with  it  in  this  Parliament — could 
not  be  avoided  without  danger  :  and  the  most  hopeful  way 
of  dealing  with  it  would  be  that  your  Government  should 
take  it  up  on  lines  which  he  could  support  as  Leader  of  the 
Opposition.  This  would  enable  you  to  deal  with  it  more 
independently  than  if  you  were  obliged  to  rely  on  the  Irish 
vote.' 

The  new  Parliament  assembled  on  January  21,  1886,  in 
an  atmosphere  electrical  with  excitement  and  conjecture. 
On  the  24th  MacCoU  wrote  from  Rip  on  to  his  chief  : 

'  I  asked  my  publisher  to  send  you  a  pamphlet  which 
I  have  written  on  the  Irish  Question. ^  It  is  very  crude  ; 
for,  among  other  reasons,  it  was  published  in  a  desperate 
hurry  in  the  course  of  a  week,  and  while  I  was  busy  making 
preparations  for  coming  down  here. 

'  If  I  may  say  so,  I  thought  your  speech  on  the  Address 
perfect.  I  wish  I  had  known  the  Government  were  going 
to  make  the  Queen  speak  that  nonsense  about  the  "  funda- 
mental law  "  of  the  Act  of  Union,  and  I  would  have  quoted 
Lord  Salisbury's  own  demolition  of  that  absurd  idea  when 
the  late  Lord  Derby  propounded  it  on  the  Second  Reading 

^  Arguments  for  and  against  Home  Rule. 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  127 

of  your  Irish  Church  Disestablishment  Bill.  The  speech  is 
worth  looking  at. 

'  I  am  much  pleased  with  the  tone  of  the  Irish  members. 
It  is  hopeful.  If  they  continue  like  that  they  will  immensely 
facilitate  the  settlement  of  the  Irish  Question. 

'  I  am  so  sorry  the  Spectator  has  gone  so  completely 
wrong  in  this  matter.  Hutton  has  got  a  twist  on  the  question. 
He  has  some  Irish  blood  in  him,  and  there  seems  to  be  some 
malign  influence  in  Irish  Protestantism  which  blinds  the  eyes 
even  of  good  men  on  Irish  questions.  There  is  a  hateful 
caste-feeling,  like  that  of  the  Moslem  towards  the  Rayah. 

'  I  hope  Lord  Hartington  is  all  right.  If  he  is,  your 
task  will  be  easy,  in  spite  of  the  insolent  bluster  of  the 
Times  and  the  grotesque  impertinences  of  Albert  Grey 
and  Arthur  ElHot.  Why  should  not  the  American  State 
Legislatures  answer  in  Ireland  ?  ' 

After  the  General  Election  of  1880  the  great  Lord 
Shaftesbury  wrote  in  his  diary  :  '  When  Gladstone  runs 
down  a  steep  place,  his  huge  majority,  like  the  pigs  in 
Scripture,  but  hoping  for  a  better  issue,  will  go  with  him, 
roaring  in  grunts  of  exultation.'  This  prophecy  took  for 
granted  the  unalterable  docility  of  the  Liberal  party  ;  but 
that  docility,  sorely  tried  by  the  events  of  the  last  five 
years,  had  now  reached  its  limit.  On  February  1,  188C, 
Gladstone,  having  displaced  Lord  Sahsbury's  Government 
on  an  amendment  to  the  Address,  kissed  hands  as  Prime 
Minister,  at  the  head  of  an  administration  pledged  to  Home 
Rule.  Some  of  his  former  colleagues  had  refused  to 
join  his  Government  ;  others  subsequently  retired  from  it. 
The  Liberals  who  objected  to  Home  Rule  formed  them- 
selves into  a  compact  and  vigorous  party,  under  the 
leadership  of  Lord  Hartington  and  Mr.  Chamberlain.  On 
February  4  MacColl  wrote  thus  to  Gladstone  : 

'  I  am  so  glad  that  Lord  Rosebery  is  to  be  at  the  Foreign 
Office,  and  hardly  less  glad  that  the  Government  is  free 
from  the  incubus  of  Lord  Derby's  paralysing  presence. 

'  I  received  this  morning  a  long  and  most  kind  letter 
from  Lord  Hartington  about  my  pamphlet,  in  which  I  have 


128  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

taken  the  liberty  of  making  some  criticism  on  himself 
in  connexion  with  Ireland.  He  says  that  he  "  sincerely 
trusts  that  you  may  succeed  "  in  settling  the  Irish  Question, 
"  though  he  has  felt  that  he  is  too  deeply  committed  to 
co-operate  with  you." 

'  What  a  fine  noble  fellow  he  is  ;  so  true,  and  leal,  and 
self-forgetting  ! 

'  Wishing  you  God  speed  in  your  great  task,  and 
anticipating  the  complete  success  of  your  pohcy.' 

This  bright  anticipation  was  not  fulfilled.  The  Home 
Rule  Bill  was  defeated  on  the  Second  Reading  on  June  8. 
Gladstone  appealed  to  the  country,  and  the  country  rejected 
Home  Rule.  The  liberal  Government  retired  from  office 
without  waiting  to  meet  the  new  Parhament.  A  resigning 
Premier  usually  scatters  honours  as  he  goes,  and  MacColl 
was  anxious  that  deserving  Gladstonians  should  not  be 
ignored.  On  July  15  he  wrote  to  Gladstone's  Private 
Secretary  : 

'  July  15,  1886. — May  I  venture  to  put  the  following 
facts  before  you  in  case  you  think  it  well  to  speak  to 
Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  subject  ? 

'  It  has  come  to  my  knowledge  that  Mr.  Gladstone  is 
likely  to  be  asked  to  confer  a  baronetcy  on  Mr.  Pulley,  late 
M.P.  for  Hereford.  I  have  known  Mr.  Pulley  since  he  has 
been  in  Parliament.  Mr.  Gladstone  has  had  no  more 
devoted  follower.  He  was  offered  a  walk-over  for  Hereford 
this  time  if  he  went  against  Mr.  Gladstone's  pohcy  and 
proclaimed  himself  a  "Unionist."  He  replied  that  he  would 
rather  be  beaten  as  a  follower  of  Mr.  Gladstone  than  win  any 
number  of  victories  as  his  opponent.  I  went  to  speak  for 
him,  and  found  him  very  popular.  But  the  combination 
was  too  strong  for  him. 

'  Mr.  Pulley  is  very  well  off  and  has  a  pretty  property 
near  Hereford.  He  is  a  great  cattle-breeder  and  is  most 
popular  among  the  farmers.  I  am  rather  sorry  he  did  not 
stand  for  one  of  the  Divisions  of  the  County.  He  is  also  a 
man  of  tastes  and  accomphshments.  He  and  Lord  Chester- 
field  are   almost   the   only   representatives   of   Liberalism 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  129 

among  the  gentry  in  that  part  of  Hereford,  and  all  Liberals 
thereabouts  would  be  gratified  by  any  honour  bestowed 
on  Mr.  Pulley.  The  Chesterfield  family  are  all  fond  of 
him,  and  would,  I  am  sure,  speak  as  highly  of  him  as  I  do. 
Mr.  Pulley  is  going  to  look  carefully  after  the  registration 
of  Herefordshire  in  order  to  win  back  the  county,  and  a 
baronetcy  would  be  useful  to  the  cause.  But  it  is  Pulley's 
great  loyalty  to  Mr.  Gladstone  that  I  chiefly  value.' 

On  August  6,  1886,  he  wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

*  Of  course  you  have  read  all  about  the  magnificent 
demonstration  in  Dublin.^  Lord  and  Lady  Aberdeen  have 
shown  how  easily  the  Irish  can  be  governed  and  how  loyal 
they  can  be  made  if  approached  in  the  right  way.  The 
demonstration  was  doubtless  meant  in  large  part  for  you  ; 
but  it  would  not  have  been  so  successful  but  for  the  wonder- 
ful hold  the  Aberdeens  got  of  the  Irish  people  of  all  classes, 
creeds,  and  parties.  I  could  tell  you  some  interesting  in- 
cidents but  I  must  not  trouble  you.  I  may  write  on  it  in 
the  Pall  Mall.  Hutton  would  only  let  me  write  a  para- 
graph in  "Current  Events  '  and  even  that  in  leading-strings." 

On  August  19,  1886,  the  new  Parliament  assembled  for 
the  transaction  of  business,  with  Lord  Salisbury  comfort- 
ably installed  in  office,  at  the  head  of  a  party  composed 
of  Tories  and  Liberal  Unionists.  During  the  next  five 
years,  MacCoU  attended  Gladstone's  varying  fortunes  with 
touching  fidelity.  The  letters  of  this  period  may  be  left 
to  tell  their  own  tale.  Except  where  otherwise  indicated, 
they  are  addressed  by  MacColl  to  Gladstone. 

''December  7,  1886. — I  have  just  been  reading  the 
speeches  at  the  Liberal  Unionist  meeting  this  afternoon. 
My  impression  is  that  they  will  help  the  cause  of  Home 
Rule.  These  men  have  no  policy  except  Coercion.  They 
have  gone  back  from  their  former  professions  at  the  last 
two  General  Elections.  Their  only  policy  is  to  say  ditto, 
ditto,  to  a  Tory  Government,  provided  that  Government 
will  act  a  little  more  despotically.     No  power  of  sophistry 

^  At  the  departure  of  the  Viceroy  and  Lady  Aberdeen. 


130  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

will  make  their  position  defensible,  or  even  intelligible,  at 
the  next  dissolution.  Those  who  may  think  it  desirable 
to  keep  a  Tory  Government  in  office  will  vote  for  a  Tory. 
Those  who  think  it  desirable  to  have  a  Liberal  Government 
in  office  will  vote  for  a  Gladstonian  Liberal. 

'  I  think  Lord  Hartington's  reproach  against  you  for 
your  silence  on  the  "  Plan  of  Campaign  "  is  cool,  and  Bright's 
language  is  impudent.  Where  was  he  when  you  were 
supporting  in  September  a  policy  which  would  have  made 
the  "  Plan  of  Campaign  "  impossible  ?  He  had  no  advice 
to  give  then.  He  did  not  take  the  trouble  even  to  hear 
the  pleading  of  the  Irish  representatives,  in  most  moderate 
language,  to  the  British  Parliament  in  favour  of  a  legal 
tribunal  to  try  the  complaints  of  Irish  tenants. 

'  I  hope  you  will  not  for  the  present  be  induced  to  break 
your  silence.  The  "  Liberal  Unionists  "  are  content,  so 
far  as  the  complaints  of  the  Irish  people  are  concerned,  to 
wait  the  pleasure  of  the  Government  ;  and  they  deny  you 
the  right  to  wait  for  the  production  of  the  Government's 
policy.     I  hope  you  will  disappoint  them. 

'  But  I  wish  you  could  find  means  of  warning  the  Irish 
against  the  most  imprudent  language  attributed  to  Dillon 
as  to  "  a  policy  of  revenge."  Is  it  not  the  fact  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  British  Constitution  to  prevent  the  Crown 
from  ceding  by  treaty  the  whole  of  Ireland  to  a  foreign 
Power  ?  And  is  not  this  a  legitimate  reductio  ad  absurdum 
of  Dicey's  chief  argument  against  your  Bill  ?  * 

*  January  6,  1887. — I  met  at  dinner  this  evening  Colonel 
Hozier,  Secretary  of  the  "  Liberal  Unionists."  We  had  a 
long  talk  on  the  Irish  Question.  He  told  me  that  Lord 
Hartington  really  longed  for  the  reunion  of  the  Liberal 
party,  and  was  still  most  loyal  to  you.  And  Colonel 
Hozier  suggested  that  I  should  go  and  have  a  talk  on  the 
Irish  Question  with  Lord  Hartington.  I  objected  that  I  had 
nothing  particular  to  say.  But  he  seemed  to  think  that 
if  I  expressed  a  wish  to  see  Lord  Hartington,  and  said  that 
I  had  seen  you  and  that  you  were  disposed  to  discuss  the 
Irish  Question  in  a  friendly  way,  some  good  might  come  of  it. 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  131 

'  Do  you  advise  me  to  ask  to  see  Lord  Hartington,  of 
course  without  committing  you  ?  I  told  Colonel  Hozier 
that  a  Statutory  Parliament  in  Dublin,  under  whatever 
limitations,  must  be  the  starting-point  of  any  discussion.' 

'  February  11,  1887. — I  met  Chamberlain  at  dinner  a  few 
days  ago.  He  is  evidently  anxious  to  rejoin  the  party, 
without  appearing  to  surrender.  But  he  is  furious  at 
Labouchere's  attacks,  and  indignant  that  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  party,  and  some  of  the  leaders,  do  not  separate  them- 
selves from  those  attacks.  He  said  that  of  course  he  did 
not  expect  you  to  do  it,  but  that  some  of  the  minor  leaders 
might  have  done  it. 

'  I  have  asked  him  to  dine  with  me,  and  I  said  that  I 
would  ask  you,  and  Lord  Spencer,  and  Trevelyan  and  John 
Morley.  He  said  he  should  be  delighted,  and  has  given  me 
my  choice  of  February  21  and  22,  and  March  4.  I  have  an 
engagement  for  February  22.  I  hope  you  are  able  and  will 
not  mind  coming  on  either  of  the  other  days.  If  you  could 
give  me  my  choice  of  the  two  days,  it  would  give  a  better 
chance  of  securing  the  other  gentlemen  whom  I  have  named.' 

'February  15,  1887.— I  have  seen  Sir  George  Trevelyan 
several  times  lately,  and  I  believe  that  he  is  in  a  very 
hopeful  mood.  He  is  most  friendly  in  his  attitude  towards 
Home  Rule  Liberals,  and  towards  you  personally.  My 
belief  is  that  he  is  sincerely  anxious  for  the  reunion  of 
the  party  as  soon  as  possible  ;  and  that  believing  Home 
Rule  to  be  inevitable,  he  wishes  to  remain  out  of  Parhament 
till  it  is  settled,  and  for  that  reason,  among  others,  wishes 
it  to  be  settled  soon.  That,  at  all  events,  is  the  impression 
which  he  has  given  me. 

'  On  Chamberlain's  suggestion  the  House-dinners  of  this 
Club,  which  have  been  suspended  since  the  split  in  the 
party,  are  to  be  resumed,  not  on  a  sectional  basis,  but  on 
the  basis  of  a  party  seeking  to  heal  differences.  Trevelyan 
is  to  preside  at  the  first,  and  Campbell-Bannerman  at  the 
second.  I  know  that  it  is  Trevelyan's  intention  to  preside 
in  an  attitude  of  peace-maker,  and  if  he  should  meet  you 
beforehand  his  purpose  will  be  strengthened.' 

K  2 


132  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  March  17,  1887.— The  Liberal  Unionist  "  Knights  of 
the  Round  Table  "  ^  appear  to  have  coolly  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  your  business  to  cast  aside  your  own  Bills 
in  toto  and  set  to  work  on  drafting  their  ideas  into  a  Bill. 
They  have  both  declared  that  they  do  not  abate  a  jot 
of  their  ideas.  The  concession  is  to  be  all  on  your  side. 
And  what  do  they  mean  by  accepting  your  "  principle  "  ? 
Courtney  last  night  repudiated  aU  idea  of  anything  like 
an  Irish  Parliament  and  Executive,  and  he  claimed,  as 
on  his  side,  not  only  Lord  Hartington  and  Sir  Henry 
James,  but  also  Chamberlain  and  Sir  George  Trevelyan,  who 
was  present,  and  tacitly  accepted  the  position  assigned  to 
him  by  Courtney. 

'  I  hope  there  will  be  no  more  Round  Table  Conferences. 
The  only  result  will  be  to  confuse  the  people.  Any  idea  that 
you  are  going  back  from  the  main  principles  of  your  Bill 
will  take  the  heart  out  of  the  Liberal  party.  Of  course 
you  are  doing  nothing  of  the  kind.  But  I  can  see  already 
that  some  very  good  Liberals  are  getting  bewildered.' 

'May  11,  1887. — I  have  just  been  having  an  interest- 
ing conversation  with  Sir  George  Trevelyan.  He  has  just 
returned  from  the  country  where  he  has  been  feeling  the 
pulse  of  people  about  the  Coercion  Bill.  The  only  point  on 
which  he  feels  at  all  uneasy  is  the  danger  of  giving  a  plausible 
excuse  for  a  charge  of  obstruction  against  the  Liberal  party. 
Except  on  that  point  he  thinks  the  Liberals  are  making  no 
mistake.  He  is  anxious  that  you  should  have  a  consultation 
with  some  of  the  leaders — e.g.  Lord  Herschell,  Harcourt,  and 
Morley  and  Spencer — and  decide  what  amendments  are 
really  important  ;  make  a  good,  but  not  prolonged,  fight  on 
those  ;  and  then  let  the  Government  pass  their  odious  Bill 
after  a  final  protest  from  you.  He  thinks  this  would  damage 
the  Government  much  more  than  prolonged  debates  which 
may  give  a  handle  to  the  Tories  and  Dissentient  Liberals. 
And  if  the  Irish  would  fall  in  with  this  policy,  Trevelyan 

^  Early  in  1887  Sir  William  Harcourt,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  Lord  Herschell,  Sir 
George  Trevelyan,  and  Mr.  John  Morley  met  '  round  a  table '  at  Sir  WiUiam 
Harcourt' 8  house  to  consider  the  Irish  Question.  After  prolonged  discussion, 
they  separated  without  arriving  at  an  agreement. 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  133 

thinks  that  it  would  help  the  cause  immensely.  He  does 
not  think  that  the  leaders  and  the  majority  of  the  Dissentients 
will  ever  come  back  to  the  party,  and  is  of  opinion  that  the 
party  had  better  act  on  that  assumption. 

'  I  told  Trevelyan  that  I  would  communicate  to  you 
what  he  said.' 

'  July  4,  1887. — I  am  delighted  that  you  have  at  last  taken 
off  the  gloves  and  hit  out  at  Lord  Hartington  and  the  "Liberal 
Unionists  "  so-called.^  You  have  been  too  gentle  with  them 
hitherto,  and  they  have  mistaken  your  gentleness  for  con- 
scious appreciation  of  the  waning  popularity  of  yourself  and 
your  cause.  The  country,  too,  was  getting  a  Uttle  bewildered. 
It  did  not  Imow  how  far  your  concessions  were  to  go.  I 
think  you  have  gone  to  the  utmost  limit  of  conciliation  and 
concession.  It  is  now  for  the  other  side  to  produce  their 
plan.  They  are  in  office  and  in  power,  and  it  is  nothing 
less  than  impudent  to  call  upon  you,  as  leader  of  the  Opposi- 
tion, to  produce  in  opposition  another  Home  Rule  Bill. 
That  would  be  very  convenient  for  them  ;  for  they  know 
that  they  will  all  go  to  pieces  the  moment  they  begin 
their  constructive  policy.  I  am  deeply  disappointed  in 
Lord  Hartington.  I  still  believe  in  his  honesty  and  personal 
unselfishness  ;  but  he  has  ceased  to  be  a  Liberal.  I  have 
never  known  a  case  where  "  evil  communications  "  have 
more  rapidly  corrupted  good  principles. 

'  The  Dissentient  Liberals  are  playing  the  life  of  this 
Parliament  against  your  leadership.  They  intend  to  support 
this  Government  in  anytlmig  to  keep  you  out  of  office. 
It  is  better  therefore  to  recognize  facts  and  treat  the 
Dissentient  Liberals  as  deserters  to  the  enemy's  camp. 
I  am  sure  that  policy  is  the  best  in  point  of  tactics  for  the 
constituencies. 

'  Hutton  breakfasted  with  me  here  on  Saturday.  I  am 
very  sorry  for  him.  It  is  real  agony  to  him  to  be  writing 
against  you,  and  he  is  now  especially  distressed  because  a 
letter  you  wrote  to  him  correcting  a  misreport  of  a  speech 
of  yours  lay  for    six    weeks    in  this   Club   without    being 

^  lu  a  speech  to  the  Liberal  M.P.'s  for  Durham. 


134  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

forwarded  to  him,  and  he  was  thus  prevented  from  making 
the  correction.  He  has  made  it,  however,  in  an  article  in 
last  Saturday's  Spectator.  He  thinks,  somewhat  amusingly, 
that  the  Club-porter,  a  vehement  Home  Ruler,  kept  back 
your  letter  on  purpose  in  order  to  spite  him  ;  and  your  not 
having  acknowledged  his  letter  of  explanation  makes  him 
half  believe  that  you  don't  believe  him.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'April  6,  1889. — You  have  always  been  so  kind  and 
indulgent  to  me  that  I  am  going  to  take  the  liberty  of 
writing  a  few  words  to  you  on  the  political  situation. 
I  have  never  been  much  of  a  party  man  ;  and  since  your 
Lordship  has  taken  the  lead  of  the  Conservative  party  I  have 
kept  aloof  from  politics  except  one  or  two  articles  on 
Home  Rule.  I  venture  to  enclose  a  copy  of  my  last  inter- 
position in  politics — an  article  in  the  Review  of  last  July. 

'  I  have  returned  from  three  months'  residence  at  Ripon, 
and  after  careful  inquiry  my  conviction  is  that  there  are 
no  Liberal  Unionists  now  in  that  Parliamentary  Division  of 
Yorkshire.  In  1886  the  Liberal  member  became  a  Liberal 
Unionist  and  retired  in  favour  of  Mr.  Wharton.  Last 
January  he  was  at  his  own  request  re-elected  a  member  of 
the  Liberal  Association.  I  believe  that  what  has  taken 
place  at  Ripon  has  been  taking  place  all  over  the  country. 
The  Liberal  Unionists  have  practically  ceased  to  exist  as  a 
political  force  outside  the  House  of  Commons.  Therefore 
when  the  Dissolution  comes  the  fight  will  be  between  the 
Conservative  party  and  the  Home  Rulers  ;  and  my  behef 
is  that  the  Home  Rulers  will  have  a  considerable  and  probably 
a  large  majority.  That  is  not  a  prospect  which  I  regard, 
Home  Ruler  as  I  am,  with  unmixed  satisfaction.  It  was  my 
hope  that  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Gladstone  your  Lordship 
might  be  able  to  lead  a  moderate  party,  avoiding  all  extremes. 

'  I  do  not  think  that  even  now  my  dream  is  an 
impossibility,  provided  only  the  Tory  party  saw  its  way  to 
go  in  for  Home  Rule  on  a  large  scale,  embracing  the  whole 
Empire.  My  reasons  for  that  view  are  given  in  the  article 
of  which  I  enclose  a  copy.     I  have  talked  the  matter  over 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  135 

with  many  Conservatives  all  over  the  country,  and  I  have 
not  met  one  Conservative  who  did  not  say  that  he  would 
rejoice  in  such  a  scheme.  My  belief  is  that  it  would  be  the 
most  conservative  policy  that  can  be  imagined.  Extreme 
measures  in  Church  and  State  have  their  fulcrum  and  lever- 
power  in  Scotland,  Wales,  and  Ireland.  Let  these  be  allowed 
to  manage  their  own  affairs  and  leave  England  to  manage  hers. 

'  I  want  Home  Rule  for  England,  which  has  been  for 
a  long  time  governed  by  votes  which  are  not  English.  The 
Liberals  are  not  yet  prepared  for  such  a  measure  of  Home 
Rule  as  I  want. 

'  Many  of  them,  especially  among  the  Radical  party, 
would  oppose  it  just  because  of  its  conservative  tendency. 
I  believe  that  the  country  would  greatly,  even  enthusi- 
astically, accept  such  a  scheme.  What  is  the  alternative  ? 
A  Land  Purchase  scheme,  to  be  followed  by  a  Local  Govern- 
ment scheme  ?  A  Land  Purchase  scheme  must  rest  on 
Imperial  guarantee,  or  on  Chamberlain's  system  of  local 
banks.  I  believe  that  no  Government  can  carry  the  former. 
The  Tories  and  Liberal  Unionists  at  the  last  Election  de- 
nounced the  idea  of  any  Imperial  guarantee  so  vigorously 
that  they  could  not  now  propose  it  ;  and  Chamberlain 
is  too  deeply  pledged  against  it  to  retreat.  Besides, 
Chamberlain's  great  ambition  is  to  settle  the  Irish  Question 
on  his  own  lines.  He  still  hopes  to  lead  the  Liberal  party, 
and  he  thinks  that  his  best  chance  of  doing  so  will  be  to 
gain  the  credit  of  having  settled  the  Irish  Question.  Depend 
upon  it,  he  will  support  no  proposal  which  will  exclude  his 
own  pet  schemes  of  Land  Purchase  and  Local  Government. 
How  would  his  schemes  act  ?  Let  us  suppose  a  Land 
Purchase  Bill  passed  of  which  local  banks  would  furnish 
the  guarantee.  How  would  Irish  landlords  regard  such 
a  guarantee  ?  It  would  be  perfectly  safe,  says  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  because  the  Land  Bill  will  be  followed  by  a 
Local  Government  Bill,  the  financial  operations  of  which 
would  collapse  in  the  event  of  failure  as  to  the  Land  Bill 
guarantee.  But  what  would  the  Nationalists  care  about 
that  ?  Such  a  failure  is  precisely  what  they  would  most 
desire.    The  credit  of  the  Government  and  of  the  Conservative 


136  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

party  would  be  involved  in  the  crash,  and  the  Home  Rulers 
would  be  triumphant  along  the  whole  line.  The  more  the 
question  is  looked  at,  the  more  inevitable  seems  to  me 
the  conclusion  that  there  are  only  two  alternatives  ;  the 
indefinite  countenance  of  things  as  they  are,  which  is 
impossible,  or  Home  Rule  in  the  sense  of  a  subordinate 
Parliament  including  an  Executive,  to  be  followed  by  the 
establishment  of  similar  bodies  in  Scotland,  Wales,  and 
England,  all  under  the  control  of  a  great  paramount  Imperial 
Parliament.  Under  such  a  scheme  the  Irish  would  submit 
to  checks  and  safeguards  which  were  imposed  on  the  other 
Nationalists  and  not  on  them  alone.  And  surely  it  is  not 
beyond  the  resources  of  British  statesmanship  to  give  the 
Colonies  some  voice  under  such  a  scheme  as  I  have  ventured 
to  suggest.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'April  11,  1889.— I  feel  that  I  did  not  sufficiently 
apologize  for  the  liberty  I  took  the  other  day  in  writing 
to  you,  so  I  venture  to  send  one  word  of  explanation. 

'  The  plain  truth  is  that  I  have  never  been  much  of  a 
political  partisan.  My  natural  tendency — due,  I  presume, 
to  my  Celtic  nature — is  to  regard  persons  more  than  parties. 
In  my  early  boyhood,  I  made  Mr.  Gladstone  a  hero,  and 
I  hate  to  see  my  idols  broken.  So  that  I  have  sometimes  de- 
fended him  even  when  I  did  not  altogether  like  some  things 
he  had  said.  I  still  believe  in  his  Churchmanship ;  and  as 
to  Home  Rule,  I  was  a  Home  Ruler  before  Mr.  Gladstone, 
and  the  man  Avho  had  the  most  to  do  with  my  conversion 
to  that  policy,  as  well  as  to  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish 
Church,  was  the  late  Lord  Greville,  whom  I  used  to  visit  in 
Ireland.  My  hope  has  always  been  that,  when  Mr.  Glad- 
stone passed  away,  your  Lordship  would  lead  a  moderate 
party  which  might  command  the  confidence  of  Churchmen 
generally,  and  I  have  not  quite  resigned  that  hope  now. 
But  I  feel  that  it  all  depends  on  the  policy  with  which  your 
Lordship  will  go  to  the  country  at  the  next  Dissolution. 

'  I  may  be  quite  wrong  ;    but  I  feel  nearly  certain  that 
Home  Rule  will  carry  the  day  Avhether  Mr.  Gladstone  be 


THE  IRISH  QUESTION  137 

still  leader  of  the  Opposition  or  not.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Liberals  are  not  agreed  upon  the  large  Home  Rule  poHcy 
which  I  advocate,  and  the  Conservatives  are  not,  as  far  as 
I  know,  committed  against  it.  Home  Rule  for  Ireland 
alone  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  pohcy  which  I  desire, 
and  would  be  so  regarded  by  the  country.  Is  this  poHcy 
impossible  for  the  Conservative  party  ?  I  do  not  see  why 
it  should  be.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

'April  12,  1889. — I  am  much  obhged  to  you  for  your 
letters,  and  the  two  printed  papers. 

'  As  to  Home  Rule  in  your  sense — which  is  Federation — 
I  do  not  see  in  it  any  elements  of  practicability.  Nations 
do  not  change  their  political  nature  like  that,  except  through 
blood.  It  would  require  a  subordination  of  all  ordinary 
motives,  a  renunciation  of  traditions  and  prepossessions, 
a  far-reaching  and  disciplined  resolve,  which  is  never  en- 
gendered by  mere  persuasion,  and  only  comes  after  conflict 
and  under  the  pressure  of  military  force.  To  ask  the  British 
nation  in  its  present  moral  and  political  condition  to  execute 
such  a  transformation  would  be  like  asking  the  Rector's 
cob  to  win  the  Derby.  The  forces  are  not  there.  I  express 
no  opinion  as  to  the  advantage  of  the  change — if  it  were 
possible.' 

MacColl    to    Gladstone 

'  August  15, 1891. — Politics  are  going  beautifully.  I  pre- 
dict a  Liberal  majority  next  year  of  60  for  a  minimum  ; 
but  I  expect  at  least  100.' 

'  November  29,  1891. — I  hope  you  will  deal  trenchantly 
with  the  revolutionary  doctrine  propounded  by  Lord 
Hartington  in  his  speech  in  Manchester  this  autumn,^ 
namely  that  the  Opposition  would  first  obstruct  your  Home 
Rule  Bill  in  the  Commons,  no  matter  what  majority  you 
got,  and  then  throw  it  out  in  the  House  of  Lords.  This 
seems   to  me   more  revolutionary  than   Lord   Salisbury's 

'  November  10,  1891. 


138  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

declaration  i    the    other    day,   that,   if    you    passed    your 
Bill,    the     Opposition,    without    giving    it    a    fair    trial, 
would    immediately    start    an    agitation    for    its    repeal. 
But  Lord  Salisbury  has  estopped  himself  from  acting  on 
Lord  Hartington's  revolutionary  advice,    as  you  will  see 
from  the  enclosed  extract  which  I  have  made  from  his 
speech  in  favour  of  your  Irish  Disestablishment  Bill.     That 
Bill  had  never  been  before  the  country  except  in  Parlia- 
ment ;    and  the  whole  question  had  only  been  before  the 
country  about  a  year.     The  Home  Rule  Question,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  debated  through  most  of  a  Session  in  the 
House  of  Commons  ;    there  was  a  dissolution  upon  it  ;    it 
is  the  one  parliamentary  subject  before  the  nation  since  the 
beginning  of  1886,  and  the  next  dissolution  will  take  place 
upon  it.     For  the  Lords  to  throw  it  out  in  the  face  of  a 
majority  in  the  Commons — a  good  majority  at  all  events — 
is  surely  a   most  revolutionary  doctrine.     Moreover,   the 
Home  Rule  Bill  is  a  far  smaller  invasion  of  the  Act  of  Union 
than  the  Irish  Church  Bill.     Leave  the  Irish  members  at 
Westminster,  and  your  1886  Bill  is  not  in  conflict  with  a 
single  clause  of  the  Act  of  Union.     I  have  compared  them. 
I  think  Lord  Salisbury's  most  statesmanlike  doctrine  in 
1869  ought  to  be  quoted.' 

MacColl  was  always  the  most  sanguine  of  Gladstonians. 
His  constant  and  confident  anticipations  of  the  overthrow 
of  the  Unionist  Government  betray  his  incurable  hopeful- 
ness. As  the  General  Election  drew  near,  he  shared 
Gladstone's  belief  that  the  majority  for  Home  Rule  could 
not  be  less  than  a  hundred.  Parliament  was  dissolved 
on  June  28,  1892,  and,  when  the  Election  was  over,  the 
majority  was  only  forty,  all  told.  Gladstone  became 
Prime  Minister  for  the  fourth  time,  and  in  1893  brought 
in  his  second  Home  Rule  Bill,  which  scrambled  through 
the  House  of  Commons  but  was  defeated  in  the  Lords  by 
419  to  41.  Thus  ignominously  collapsed  the  movement 
which  had  started  in  December  1885,  and  for  twenty 
years  the  Irish  Question  slumbered. 

^  At  Birmingham,  November  24,  1891. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


ARMENIA 


The  Armenian  Massacres,  judiciously  interspersed  with  intervals  of  breath- 
ing-time, have  surpassed  in  their  scale,  and  in  the  intensity  and  diversity  of 
their  wickedness,  all  modem,  if  not  all  historical,  experience. 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

It  was  a  marked  characteristic  of  MacColl's  nature  that, 
when  once  he  had  convinced  himself  that  a  cause  was 
righteous,  he  followed  it  through  evil  report  and  good 
report,  in  season  and  out  of  season.  This  was  pre-eminently- 
true  with  regard  to  the  cause  of  the  Christian  populations 
in  Eastern  Europe,  and  their  resistance  to  the  age-long 
persecution  which  they  have  endured  at  the  hands  of  their 
Turkish  oppressors.  In  a  former  chapter  we  have  seen 
MacCoU's  untired  activity  in  the  Eastern  Question  of 
1876-9,  and  at  the  point  which  we  have  now  reached  he 
found  himself  imperatively  recalled  to  his  earHer  battle-field. 
Gladstone  resigned  the  Premiership  in  March  1894, 
being  succeeded  by  Lord  Rosebery,  and  ceased  to  be  a 
Member  of  Parliament  at  the  dissolution  of  1895.  Mean- 
while, distressing  reports  had  reached  England  of  atrocities 
committed  by  the  Turks  on  the  Christians  of  Armenia,  and 
MacColl's  chivalrous  spirit  was  stirred  within  him.  In  this, 
as  in  other  controversies,  he  was  in  the  closest  sympathy 
with  Gladstone,  to  whom  he  wrote  on  November  22,  1894  : 

'  You  have  probably  seen  in  the  Times  and  Daily  Netvs 
the  accounts  of  the  massacres  in  Armenia.  They  are  on 
much  the  same  scale  and  of  the  same  character  as  the 
Bulgarian  atrocities.     The  real  truth    is    that  they  were, 

139 


140  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

like  the  Bulgarian  atrocities,  organized  in  Constantinople 
to  terrorize  and  "  diminish  "  the  population.  The  Porte 
has  appointed  a  Commission,  as  it  did  in  Bulgaria,  and  the 
report  of  that  Commission  will  doubtless  follow  the  Bulgarian 
precedent.  What  is  needed  is  an  independent  enquiry, 
to  be  followed  by  such  action  as  the  circumstances  may 
require.  It  must  be  remembered  that  England  is  under 
a  double  obligation  in  this  matter  :  first,  by  the  61st  Clause 
of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin ;  secondly,  by  the  Anglo-Turkish  Con- 
vention, which  engages  England  to  resist  Russian  aggression 
in  Armenia  by  force  of  arms. 

'  A  word  from  you  at  this  moment  would  have  a  mighty 
effect.  If  the  Government  follow  the  example  of  Lord 
Beaconsfield's  Government,  the  General  Election  will  as 
surely  prove  their  ruin  as  that  of  1880  proved  the  ruin  of 
Lord  Beaconsfield's  administration.  Already  I  am  receiving 
communications  from  Liberals  in  various  places  to  organize 
an  agitation. 

'  I  am  writing  in  haste  to  catch  this  morning's  post. 
Of  course  I  don't  mean  my  letter  for  publication  ;  but  I 
hope  you  will  write  me  a  line  or  two  in  reply  m  hich  I  may 
publish.  The  thing  to  be  insisted  on  just  now — is  it  not  ? 
— is  first,  that  a  Turkish  Commission  of  enquiry  is  a  farce  ; 
secondly,  that  the  Government  ought  to  order  an  independent 
enquiry.  Even  Lord  Beaconsfield's  Government  did  that 
in  Bulgaria.' 

When  MacCoU's  spirit  was  roused,  his  pen  was  never 
idle.     On  May  9,  1895,  he  wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

'  By  the  God  Wlio  made  me,  and  in  Whose  strength  I 
stand,  I  mean  to  do  my  level  best  to  set  the  heather  on  fire 
on  this  question,  cost  me  what  it  may,  and  cost  the  Govern- 
ment what  it  may.' 

On  May  20  he  wrote  thus  to  Lord  Salisbury  : 

'  I  am  taking  the  liberty  of  sending  you  a  pamphlet 
which  I  hope  you  will  find  time  to  read.^    My  belief  is  that 

^  England's  Responsibility  towards  Armenia. 


ARMENIA  141 

both  political  parties  are  failing  to  recognize  the  significance 
and  importance  of  this  Armenian  Question,  as  they  did  that 
of  the  Bulgarian  business  in  its  early  stages.  The  country 
is  getting  roused  on  the  question,  unknown  to  the  wire- 
pullers or  political  managers.  There  is  always  in  the 
country  a  large  section  of  those  who  take  but  a  languid 
interest  in  ordinary  Party  politics,  but  who  are  roused 
to  fever  heat  by  a  question  like  this,  which  appeals  to 
their  emotions,  their  humanity,  their  Christianity,  and 
their  passion  for  justice.  I  was  in  touch  with  these  in 
1877-80,  through  committees  which  I  had  formed  all  over 
the  country,  quite  apart  from  political  organizations.  So 
that  when  Adam,  the  Liberal  Whip,  asked  me,  on  the  eve 
of  the  Election  of  1880,  what  I  thought  of  the  probabihties, 
I  said  I  gave  the  Liberals  a  majority  of  60  for  a  minimum 
and  anything  over  100  for  a  maximum.  He  thought  I  was 
mad,  his  calculation  being  that  on  the  most  sanguine 
view  the  utmost  the  Liberals  could  do  would  be  to  reduce 
the  Tory  majority  to  about  20.  Gladstone,  who  is  always 
in  magnetic  touch  with  the  country  on  a  question  of  this 
sort,  agreed  with  me,  as  he  does  now.  I  have  renewed 
my  organization  and  am  again  in  touch  with  that  ordinarily 
inert  mass,  which  can  be  roused  to  enthusiasm  by  a  question 
of  this  sort.  The  first  edition  of  my  pamphlet  (1000  copies) 
was  sold  out  in  five  days,  almost  all  being  orders  from  the 
country  ;  and  within  the  last  fortnight  I  have  received 
1000  letters  from  different  parts  of  the  country,  all  on  fire 
on  this  question.  But  of  that  state  of  feeling  political 
wire-pullers  know  nothing.  Yet  it  is  this  margin  of  votes 
which  will  decide  the  next  Election.  Will  you  kindly  read 
my  pamphlet,  and  then  let  me  have  a  talk  with  you  ? 
The  Government  have  made  a  mess  of  the  business  and 
are  past  praying  for.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  May  24,  1895. — I  am  very  glad  you  are  in  town.  You 
may  be  able,  I  trust,  to  save  the  Government  and  the  Liberal 
party  from  a  most  serious  disaster  on  the  Armenian  Question. 


142  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Their  scheme  of  reforms  will  be  their  ruin  unless  the  Sultan 
is  such  an  ass  as  to  reject  it.  I  will  give  you  my  reasons 
for  that  opinion,  and  I  think  you  wiU  consider  them  good 
reasons.  I  will  call  with  this  ;  but  probably  you  will  not  be 
able  to  see  me  to-day. 

'  I  enclose  a  copy  of  the  second  edition  of  my  pamphlet. 
The  first  edition  (1000  copies)  was  sold  out  in  five  days,  and 
the  pamphlet  was  out  of  print  for  five  days  because  the 
publishers  were  not  prepared  for  so  rapid  a  sale.'  It  has  been 
very  well  reviewed,  and  the  sale  has  been  almost  entirely 
in  the  country. 

'  I  enclose  also  a  copy  of  some  criticisms  of  mine  on 
the  scheme  of  reforms  for  Armenia,  part  of  which  the 
Times  quoted  to-day.  I  wrote  it  hurriedly,  partly  for  the 
Grosvenor  House  Committee,  of  which  I  am  Honorary 
Secretary,  and  partly  as  a  cue  to  the  provincial  Press,  from 
the  editors  of  which  I  have  received  shoals  of  letters  asking 
my  opinion.' 

On  June  21  the  Government  was  beaten  in  a  snap- 
division  on  the  Army  Estimates ;  and  Lord  Rosebery, 
instead  of  challenging  the  judgment  of  the  country  by  dis- 
solution, meekly  toddled  out  of  office.  Lord  Salisbury 
became  Prime  Minister,  and  dissolved  Parliament  on  July  8. 
The  General  Election  gave  him  a  majority  which  lasted 
unbroken  till  1906. 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  July  18,  1895. — I  have  shed  no  tears  on  the  Liberal 
collapse.  I  expected  it  whenever  Mr.  Gladstone  retired, 
though  his  retirement  is  not  the  only  cause  of  disaster. 
I  gave  them  up  a  year  ago  and  have  done  my  best  to 
damage  them  throughout  the  country  for  their  feeble 
diplomacy  on  the  Armenian  Question.  I  managed  to  turn 
a  number  of  Liberal  papers  against  them  on  that  ques- 
tion, and  got  "  cut "  for  my  pains  by  a  leading  member 
of  the  Cabinet.  I  hope  your  Lordship  wdll  be  able  to 
secure  European  control,  as  in  the  Lebanon,  for  Armenia. 
That  is  much  more  important  than  any  scheme  of 
paper  reforms.     My  belief  is  that,  if  the  late  Government 


ARMENIA  143 

had  given   Sir   Philip  Currie  a  free  hand,  he  would  have 
secured  European  control  for  Armenia.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  July  22,  1895. — Information  has  reached  me  to  the 
effect  that,  if  nothing  is  done  for  the  Armenians  within 
a  reasonable  time,  they  will  turn  on  their  oppressors,  pre- 
ferring death  at  once  by  a  general  massacre  to  the  slow 
torture  which  they  are  made  to  endure. 

'  I  have  just  seen  the  Duke  of  Westminster,  who  is  very 
earnest  in  the  matter.  But  he  thinks  that  a  meeting  in 
Chester  would  do  no  good  unless  you  could  be  persuaded  to 
speak.  He  wiU  write  to  you  to  that  effect,  and  he  would 
himself  preside  at  the  meeting.  Do  you  not  think  that  you 
could  speak  under  such  circumstances  ?  There  could  be 
no  Party  character  suspected  in  a  meeting  called  by  and 
presided  over  by  the  Duke  of  Westminster.  Moreover,  I 
wrote  my  Quarterly  article  with  a  view  of  committing 
the  Tory  party  to  a  policy  of  coercion  in  Armenia.  The 
Quarterly  will  be  out  next  Wednesday  with  my  article  in 
it,  and  a  speech  from  you  would  therefore  be  only  backing 
up  the  recommendation  of  the  leading  Tory  organ.  I  don't 
want  my  name  to  get  known  as  the  writer  of  the  article. 
I  believe  the  Conservatives,  as  a  party,  would  welcome  a 
speech  from  you  just  now  on  the  Eastern  Question.  Several 
Tories  have  said  as  much  to  me.  You  can  save  the 
Armenians  from  extinction.' 

The  Same  to  the  Same 
'  July  30,  1895. — A  thousand  thanks.  A  speech  from 
you  just  now  is  just  what  is  needed.  It  will  rouse  the 
country  as  nothing  else  can.  I  think  Lord  Salisbury  is 
well  inclined  ;  but  he  is  timid.  If  he  feels  that  he  has  the 
nation  at  his  back,  I  think  he  may  be  induced  to  take  a 
strong  line  both  in  Armenia  and  Macedonia.  Russia  also 
will  suspect  nothing  sinister  from  you.  What  she  fears  is 
the  creation  of  an  Armenian  Principality  on  her  frontiers. 
Reassured  on  that  point,  I  think  she  would  support  the 
appointment  of  a  European  Commission,  or  Governor  under 


144  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

the  control  of  the  Powers.  Without  such  security  reforms 
are  of  no  use,  as  you  have  often  said.  Pressed  into  a 
corner,  the  Sultan  will  promise  anything.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  July   31,    1895. — I    hope   the   Pall   Mall  Gazette  and 
St.  James's  Gazette  of  to-day  will  not  mislead  you  as  to 
Mr.  Gladstone's  intention  in  consenting  to  address  a  public 
meeting  at  Chester  on  the  Armenian  Question.      The  facts 
are  in  brief  as  follows  :     About  a  fortnight  ago  a  Chester 
clergyman  wrote    to  me    to    say  that    he    had  read  my 
pamphlet  with   horror,   and  that  he  was  so  roused  that 
he  had  consulted  a  number  of  Churchmen  in  Chester,  and 
they  all  agreed  to  get  up  a  pubhc   meeting   if   I   would 
go  and  deliver  an  address.     I  went  to  consult  the  Duke 
of   Westminster   and  he   agreed   to   take  the   Chair,    but 
suggested  that   it   would   be   well    to    get  Mr.    Gladstone 
to  speak  if  possible.     I  said  that  I  did  not  think  there  was 
any  chance,  as  Mr.  Gladstone  had  repeatedly  declined  to 
write  or  speak  on  the  subject  of  Armenia  for  fear  of  giving 
some  people  an  opportunity  of  turning  his  action  to  Party 
purposes.     However,    the   Duke   said   he    would   write   to 
Mi.  Gladstone  and  offer  to  preside  at  the  meeting,  and  he 
advised  me  to  write  too.     I  did,  and  IVIr.  Gladstone  was 
very  reluctant  to  agree.     He  told  me  that  he  had  been 
urged  by  many  persons,  including  supporters  of  your  Lord- 
ship's Government,  to  speak,  but  had  declined  for  fear  of 
doing  harm  rather  than  good  ;   but  he  would  consult  friends. 
He  has  at  last  consented  to  speak,  but  with  the  intention 
of  supporting  your  Lordship's  diplomacy  by  shoAving  the 
Sultan  and  the  Great  Powers  that  you  have  all  England 
at    your    back.     Between    ourselves,    he    was,  to    put    it 
mildly,  puzzled    by  the    diplomacy  of    the    late    Govern- 
ment on  this  question.     He  has  always  believed  in  your 
Lordship's  sympathy  for  the  rayahs  of  Turkey  as  well  as 
your  thorough  comprehension  of  the  whole  question ;  and  the 
Qvurterly  Review  article  on  Islam  convinced  him  that  he 
would  be  helping  the  Government  by  speaking  just  now. 


ARMENIA  145 

That  is  the  whole  truth.  If  there  is  any  point  which  your 
Lordship  would  vnsh  Mr.  Gladstone  to  make  or  to  avoid 
and  win  tell  me  confidentially,  either  by  letter  or  by  letting 
me  come  to  see  you,  I  will  take  care  that  Mr.  Gladstone 
shall  attend  to  it  without  letting  him  know  that  I  have  had 
communication  with  your  Lordship.  From  information — 
trustworthy,  I  believe — which  has  reached  me,  I  am  afraid 
the  Sultan  means  to  settle  the  Armenian  Question  by  the 
extermination  of  the  Armenians.  I  should  be  troubling  at 
too  great  length  if  I  were  to  give  my  reasons.  I  have 
summarized  them  in  the  preface  of  a  cheap  edition  of  my 
pamphlet  which  will  be  out  to-morrow  and  of  which  I  will 
take  the  hberty  to  send  a  copy  to  your  Lordship.  I  have 
great  confidence  in  your  Lordship's  management  of  this 
question,  which  is  more  than  I  had  in  the  late  Government. 
They  had  not  got  a  back-bone  among  them.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

'August  1,  1895. — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your 
letter  of  July  3L 

'  I  am  so  Httle  disposed  to  look  upon  Mr.  Gladstone's 
proposed  action  as  being  in  any  way  hkely  to  be  an  impedi- 
ment, that  I  have  already  telegraphed  the  news  of  it  to  Sir 
Philip  Currie,  in  case  he  should  not  hear  of  it  from  other 
quarters,  and  in  case  the  mention  of  it  may  be  useful  for  the 
purposes  he  has  in  hand. 

'  The  peculiarity  of  my  predecessors'  policy,  which  of 
course  I  am  bound  to  carry  out,  is  that  they  have  acted 
in  strict  harmony  with  the  Governments  of  France  and 
Russia  ;  and  that  co-operation,  while  it  gives  solemnity 
and  force  to  our  intervention,  carries  with  it  necessarily 
many  Hmiting  conditions,  which  will  make  our  conjoint 
action  different  in  some  respects,  which  may  be  important, 
from  the  action  which  this  country  would  probably  have 
pursued  alone.  This  all-important  character  in  the  present 
intervention  must  be  remembered  both  in  attempting  to 
forecast  what  the  action  taken  will  be,  and  in  judging  of  it 
when  it  has  been  taken.' 


14G  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  August  2,  1895. — When  it  was  announced  that 
you  were  to  speak  at  Chester  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette, 
St.  James's  Gazette,  and  Glohe  attacked  you,  and  the 
Pall  Mall  attacked  me  as  well.  They  said  that  you 
were  going  to  embarrass  the  Government.  Therefore  I 
wrote  to  Lord  Salisbury  and  explained  how  the  Chester 
meeting  came  about,  and  your  reluctance  to  do  any- 
thing that  might  even  seem  to  embarrass  his  diplomacy. 
To-day  I  have  received  a  reply  which  is  marked 
"  private,"  but  of  which  I  venture  to  send  you  a  copy 
in  confidence,  for  I  venture  to  think  it  important.  I 
think  you  will  help  him  and  encourage  him  to  act  more 
energetically  if  you  admit  in  your  speech  that  his  hands 
are  somewhat  tied  by  the  action  of  his  predecessors.  I 
think  the  late  Government  threw  away  a  great  oppor- 
tunity by  their  feeble  and  dilatory  action  on  the  Armenian 
Question.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 
'August  28,  1895. — I  apologize  for  trespassing  so 
much  on  your  time  and  patience.  But  I  am  anxious 
to  do  nothing  and  to  advise  nothing  which  might  tend 
in  any  way  to  embarrass  your  Lordship  in  your  eflPorts 
on  behalf  of  the  Armenians.  I  have  a  bundle  of  un- 
answered letters  received  during  my  illness,  from  persons 
all  over  the  kingdom,  on  the  subject  of  public  meetings 
in  connexion  with  Armenia.  I  advised  my  correspondents 
to  rest  satisfied  with  the  Chester  meeting, ^  adding  that 
I  knew  that  your  Lordship  was  doing  all  you  could,  but 
a  number  of  letters  suggest  public  meetings  in  aid  of  the 
Relief  Fund  on  behalf  of  the  Armenians.  I  enclose  a 
specimen.  The  writer  is  a  strong  Conservative,  and  there- 
fore most  friendly  to  the  Government.  The  question  is 
whether  it  will  be  wise  to  have  such  meetings  ;  for,  although 
the  advertised  purpose  will  be  to  express  sympathy  with  the 
Armenians  and  to  collect  money  for  them,  it  will,  I  beheve, 

1  Gladatoue  addressed  a  iniblic  meeting  at  Chester  on  August  6,  1895. 


ARMENIA  147 

be  difficult  to  prevent  such  meetings  from  having  the 
character  of  Indignation  Meetings  ;  not  of  course  against 
the  Government  but  against  the  Porte.  And  I  have  a 
strong  feeling  that  supplementary  meetings  would  be  likely 
to  weaken  the  moral  effect  of  the  Chester  meeting.  That 
meeting  must  have  shown  the  Sultan  that  your  Lordship 
has  the  whole  nation  at  your  back.  The  calm  which  has 
succeeded  must  have  impressed  him,  I  should  think,  more 
than  any  number  of  noisy  meetings  would  have  done.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

'  August  29,  1895. — I  think  on  the  whole  that  it  would 
not  be  desirable  that  I  should  offer  you  any  advice  as 
to  the  question  whether  you  should  hold  meetings  upon 
the  Armenian  matter  or  not. 

'  I  have  already  been  accused,  most  unjustly,  of  having 
got  up  the  Demonstration  at  which  you  spoke.'  i 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

^November  2,  1895. — I  have  ordered  a  copy  of  the 
current  number  of  the  Contemporary  Review  to  be  sent 
to  your  Lordship.  In  an  article  on  the  Armenian  Question 
I  have,  while  condemning  the  settlement,  laid  the  entire 
responsibiUty  of  it  on  the  late  Government.  The  moment 
a  summary  of  the  scheme  was  published  last  May,  I  read 
a  paper  on  it  at  a  meeting  of  the  Grosvenor  House 
Committee,  of  which  the  Duke  of  Westminster  is  Presi- 
dent, and  the  Duke  of  Portland,  Lord  Bute,  and  Lord 
Strathmore  are  members.  I  criticized  it  in  detail,  and 
showed  as  I  think  the  utter  futility  and  even  mischief  of  it 
without  European  control.  The  Duke  of  Westminster,  by 
the  wish  of  the  Committee,  sent  my  criticisms  to  the 
papers,  much  to  the  disgust  of  Lord  Rosebery  and  his 
Government  who  have  never  forgiven  me  ;  for  I  raised  the 
Liberal  Press  against  them.  The  Liberal  papers  are  now 
disposed  to  forget  this  and  to  throw  the  whole  blame  of  the 
failure  on  your  Lordship.     I  have  no  doubt  that  I  shall  be 

^  At  St.  James's  Hall,  on  May  7,  1895. 

L  2 


148  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

anathematized  in  Liberal  circles  for  my  article,  but  I  can't 
help  that.  I  regard  their  diplomacy  on  this  question  as 
fatuous  in  the  extreme.  If  the  Liberal  Government  had, 
last  May,  presented  the  Sultan  \%dth  a  workable  scheme, 
with  an  alternative  menace  of  the  fleet  going  to  Smyrna, 
I  have  no  doubt  they  would  have  won.  Russia  and 
France  had  not  then  made  up  their  minds,  and  would 
have  been  obliged  to  co-operate,  but  Lord  Rosebery  threw 
away  his  opportunity.  I  believe  he  was  anxious  to  help 
the  Armenians,  but  he  was  not  master  of  the  question  ; 
Lord  Kimberley  was  weak  and  timid,  and  Sir  W.  Harcourt 
bullied  both,  thinking  only  of  what  could  win  the  Election, 
as  he  thought — his  pet  Veto  Bill.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

^November  5,  1895. — I  am  in  private  correspondence 
with  Lord  Salisbury  on  the  Eastern  Question,  and  find 
him  most  friendly.  I  suspect  that  he  is  not  well  backed 
up  in  the  Cabinet.  I  am  afraid  Chamberlain  is  too  much 
bent  on  making  a  name  for  himself  in  the  Colonial 
Department  to  care  a  button  for  the  Armenians ;  and  of 
course  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  will  put  on  his  caution- 
drag.' 

All  through  the  spring  and  summer  of  1896  things 
went  from  bad  to  worse  in  Armenia.  MacColl  incessantly 
plied  his  vigorous  pen,  and  used  whatever  influence  he  could 
bring  to  bear  on  his  friends,  and  more  particularly  on 
Lord  Sahsbury  and  Mr.  Gladstone — the  only  statesmen  in 
whom  he  had  confidence.  When  reviewing  a  book  by  the 
Duke  of  Argyll  on  '  Our  Responsibihties  for  Turkey,'  he 
wrote  :  '  I  am  glad  of  any  opportunity  to  have  a  fling  at 
the  Unspeakable  One.'  His  personal  relations  with  Lord 
Rosebery  were  friendly  enough,  but  he  despised  the  pusillani- 
mous policy  of  inaction  which  Lord  Rosebery's  Cabinet  had 
maintained  ;  and,  as  the  summer  declined  into  the  autumn, 
he  encouraged  Gladstone  to  come  forward  yet  once  again 
on  behaK  of  the  persecuted  Christians.  From  this  point 
his  correspondence  may  be  left  to  tell  its  own  tale. 


ARMENIA  149 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'September  9,  1896. — I  have  been  for  some  days 
the  recipient  of  letters  from  all  parts  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  urging  the  duty  of  holding  public  meetings 
in  London  and  elsewhere.  Since  the  meeting  at  Chester 
at  which  Mr.  Gladstone  spoke,  soon  after  your  Lordship's 
accession  to  office,  I  have  used  whatever  influence 
I  possess  against  the  policy  of  agitation,  and  I  have 
taken  every  opportunity  of  declaring  publicly  that 
your  Lordship  has  been  handicapped  by  the  imbecile 
diplomacy  of  your  predecessors.  I  knoAv  for  a  fact  that  on 
the  collapse  of  China  the  Russian  Government  invoked  a 
friendly  understanding  mth  Lord  Rosebery's  Government 
both  in  the  far  East  and  near.  Lord  Rosebery  dechned, 
and  British  policy  has  been  thwarted  ever  since.  Lord 
Rosebery's  Government  mismanaged  the  Armenian  Question 
from  the  beginning.  I  can  never  forgive  them  for  the 
appointment  of  the  Turkish  Commission  on  the  Armenian 
massacres,  which  was  appointed  by  their  advice,  for  no 
other  reason  that  I  can  think  of  but  that  of  hoodwinking 
pubHc  opinion  in  England.  And  as  they  began,  so  they 
proceeded,  from  one  feeble  proposal  to  another.  The  truth, 
I  believe,  is,  that  Lord  Rosebery's  Government  was  para- 
lysed by  internal  discords.  I  think  Lord  Rosebery's  own 
feelings  were  in  favour  of  a  more  vigorous  policy  and  an 
understanding  with  Russia.  Sir  W.  Harcourt,  on  the  other 
hand — besides  delighting  in  thwarting  Lord  Rosebery — 
thought  that  he  would  win  the  election  by  his  Budget  and 
his  Veto  Bill  and  thus  return  to  power  with  a  personal 
prestige  which  would  force  his  supersession  of  Lord 
Rosebery.  That  is  only  my  private  opinion.  What  I  dc 
know  is  that  Harcourt  opposed  the  line  in  foreign  policy 
that  Lord  Rosebery  was  at  one  time  disposed  to  adopt. 
I  don't  know  how  many  of  the  Cabinet  supported  him  ; 
but  I  believe  that  Mr.  John  Morley  certainly  did.  Lord 
Kimberley,  on  the  other  hand,  was  too  lethargic  to  take 
a  strong  line. 

'  I  have  troubled  your   Lordship   with   these   remarks 


150  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

in  order  to  show  that  I,  for  one,  should  be  very  sorry  to 
see  our  Foreign  policy  again  entrusted  to  the  custody  of  the 
late  ministry,  and  that  I  am  therefore  very  unlikely  to  do 
anything  which  might  have  a  tendency  to  embarrass  your 
Lordship.  But  public  feeling  is  getting  so  hot  and  wild 
on  the  question,  that  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  public 
meetings  will  be  held  with  or  without  the  co-operation  of 
the  Grosvenor  House  Committee.  In  the  former  case  the 
Committee  would  be  able  to  exercise  some  control.  I  should 
probably  (as  Honorary  Secretary)  have  a  voice  in  the 
drafting  of  Resolutions,  the  choice  of  speakers,  and  the  line 
of  poHcy  to  be  adopted.  There  are  as  many  Conservatives 
as  Liberals  on  the  Grosvenor  House  Committee,  including 
a  member  of  your  Lordship's  Government,  the  Duke  of 
Portland  ;  and  I  should  of  course  do  nothing  without  con- 
sultation with  the  Committee. 

'  I  should  be  greatly  obliged  if  your  Lordship  would  tell 
me  quite  privately  which  you  think  more  advisable  :  that 
the  Grosvenor  House  Committee — if  we  find  that  public 
meetings  are  inevitable — should  do  our  best  to  guide  and 
control  them  ;  or  simply  let  them  take  their  course.  I  am 
glad  to  see  the  Daily  Chronicle,  which  is  prone  to  take  an 
independent  hne,  while  urging  further  meetings,  gives  your 
Lordship  credit  (in  its  yesterday's  leader)  for  doing  your 
best,  but  throws  over  Lord  Rosebery  and  the  Liberal 
leaders  as  hopelessly  indifferent  to  the  moral  obUgations 
of  the  situation.  My  opinion,  if  I  may  venture  to  say  so, 
is  that  it  would  be  wiser  to  guide  the  indignation  of  the 
public  than  to  leave  it  to  run  riot.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

'September  9,  1896.— Of  Armenia  I  have  little  to  say, 
for  you  know  almost  as  much  as  I  do  about  it.  My  last 
news  is  not  good.  I  have  heard  from  more  than  one 
good  authority  that,  at  the  recent  interview  in  Vienna, 
Lobanoff  and  Goluchowski  agreed  that  it  was  perfectly 
possible  to  put  off  the  dissolution  of  the  Turkish  Empire 
for  a  great  number  of  years  ;  and  mutually  pledged  each 


ARMENIA  151 

other  to  work  together  for  that  purpose  to  the  best  of  their 
power.  Of  course,  Austria  carries  Germany  and  Russia 
carries  France.  Yet  there  are  things  which  the  most 
powerful  combinations  cannot  do.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  [Hawarden],  September  12,  1896. — Instead  of  going 
straight  to  London  from  Curraghmore,  without  seeing 
Mr.  Gladstone,  as  I  had  intended,  I  have  just  arrived 
here,  for  two  reasons  :  first,  because  I  found  that  it  was  no 
longer  a  question  of  meetings  or  no  meetings,  but  only  of 
guiding  the  meetings.  Three  weeks  ago  I  thought  the 
nation  had  settled  down  into  a  state  of  apathy  as  regards 
the  horrors  in  Turkey.  Now  I  find  that  the  indignation 
of  the  people  must  have  a  vent ;  and  I  am  glad  of  it, 
for  I  beUeve  it  can  be  kept  within  reasonable  bounds. 
My  second  reason  for  coming  here  is  that  I  learnt  that 
Mr.  Gladstone  has  been  and  is  being  strongly  urged  to  speak 
at  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  Chester,  and  he  is  considering 
the  matter.  I  know  that  his  disposition  js  to  help  your 
Lordship  in  any  action  which  you  may  think  it  wise  to 
take  ;  and  I  believe  there  is  no  action,  however  drastic,  in 
which  the  nation  would  not  joyfully  support  you.  I  came 
to  talk  the  matter  over  with  Mr.  Gladstone.  But  I  have 
not  yet  seen  him,  for  I  have  only  just  arrived  from 
Ireland  ;  and  I  am  going  to  take  the  liberty  of  putting 
my  own  views  before  your  Lordship  as  to  the  policy  to 
be  advocated  at  public  meetings  as  the  most  feasible  and 
least  violent : 

'  (1)  The  deposition  of  the  Sultan  by  the  united  action 
of  the  Great  Powers,  or  by  one  or  more  of  them  with  the 
acquiescence  of  the  rest. 

'  (2)  If  a  majority  of  the  Powers  oppose  this  solution, 
that  your  Lordship  should  lay  your  policy  before  the 
Powers,  namely  that,  in  consequence  of  their  refusal  to  act, 
you  should  break  off  diplomatic  relations  with  the  Sultan, 
recalling  the  British  Ambassador  at  Constantinople  and 
giving  the  Turkish  Ambassador  his  passport. 


152  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  I  have  not  a  doubt  that  the  mere  threat  of  your  Lord- 
ship's determination  to  take  this  course  would  force  the 
Powers  to  accept  the  alternative  of  the  Sultan's  deposition, 
or  to  propose  some  efficacious  alternative  of  their  own. 
See  how  your  refusal  to  agree  to  their  cruel  policy  in  regard 
to  Crete  compelled  them  to  follow  your  lead.  Their  nervous 
dread  of  a  general  war  is  the  very  lever  to  work  upon.  To 
disarm  any  suspicion  of  your  intention  or  desire  to  gain 
any  special  advantage  for  England,  would  it  not  be  possible 
to  propose  a  self-denying  ordinance  by  which  the  Powers 
would  bind  themselves  to  respect  the  territorial  status  quo 
in  Turkey  ?  This  would  show  the  world  that,  if  there  is 
any  Power  which  is  cloaking  selfish  designs  under  a  mask 
of  zeal  for  the  prosecuted  Christians,  it  is  not  England. 
The  very  fear  of  opening  out  the  whole  Eastern  Question 
will  make  the  other  Powers  go  with  your  Lordship  instead 
of  thwarting  you,  once  they  see  that  you  are  determined 
to  get  the  Sultan  deposed,  or  throw  upon  them,  before  the 
civilized  world  and  their  own  Christian  subjects,  the  respon- 
sibility of  leaving  this  criminal  lunatic  to  go  on  playing  his 
mad  pranks. 

'  I  believe  that  just  now  the  Power  which  plays  the 
boldest  game  will  win,  and  win  peacefully.  Your  Lordship 
has  proved  this  in  the  case  of  Crete  !  I  am  certain  that  you 
have  now  an  opportunity,  such  as  does  not  often  fall  to  the 
lot  of  a  statesman,  of  forcing  the  Great  Powers  to  follow  you 
in  pacifying  Turkey  and  thereby  establishing  a  great  name 
in  history  and  earning  the  gratitude  of  your  country  and 
the  benediction  of  Christendom. 

'  And  there  is  another  reason  why  I  wish  your  T^ordship 
to  achieve  a  great  success  in  this  matter.  Now  that  Mr. 
Gladstone  has  retired,  your  Lordship,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  is 
the  only  statesman  among  us  who  is  capable  of  infusing  moral 
force  into  pohtics,  whenever  you  give  yourself  fair  play. 
And  moral  force  is  sadly  needed  in  pohtics  just  now.  For 
the  Governments  of  Europe  seem  to  me  to  be  falling  under 
the  dominion  of  the  Stock  Exchange  and  financial  gamblers. 
God  is  being  dethroned  in  favour  of  Mammon.  Your  Lord- 
ship can  now  strike  a  note  that  will  touch  the  best  and 


ARMENIA  153 

noblest  elements  in  the  British  character,  and  you  will  find 
the  whole  nation  at  your  back.  I  am  not  going  to  degrade 
so  sacred  a  subject  by  suggesting  that  you  would  do  your 
party  as  well  as  your  Government  a  great  service  by  taking 
a  bold  lead  on  this  question.  And  it  would  be  no  new 
departure  on  your  part,  as  I  am  prepared  to  prove,  and  shall 
prove,  from  your  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1858 
down  to  the  present  time.  Lord  Carnarvon  told  me  in 
1878  that  it  was  due  to  your  influence  in  Lord  Beacons- 
field's  Government  that  this  country  was  saved  from  the 
great  crime  and  blunder  of  going  to  war  on  behalf  of  Turkey. 
I  am  sure  that  in  this  crisis  your  own  wishes  have  been 
thwarted  by  obstacles  and  influences  not  known  in  their 
entirety  to  me,  although  I  know  some  of  those  and  guess 
more.  One  thing  I  can  certainly  prevent,  and  will — namely, 
any  attempt  of  the  Liberal  leaders  to  make  any  Party 
capital  out  of  the  situation.  I  apologize  for  the  untidiness 
of  this  letter  as  well  as  for  its  audacity.  I  have  written  it 
currente  calamo  to  catch  the  post  before  seeing  Mr.  Gladstone. 
I  will  write  and  tell  you  his  view  privately.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

September  12,  1896. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  do  not  think  I  ought  to 
offer  any  advice  with  respect  to  the  agitation  of  which  you 
speak. 

'  But  there  is  one  circumstance  which  has  I  think 
been  overlooked  and  to  which  I  ought  to  draw  your 
attention. 

'  Mr.  Gladstone  and  others  speak  as  if  the  present 
situation  was  similar,  or  at  least  analogous,  to  the  situation 
of  1876.  This  seems  to  me  a  serious  mistake.  In  1876 
Mr.  Gladstone  supported  one  policy — to  co-operate  with 
Russia  against  Turkey  ;  Lord  Beaconsfield  supported  the 
opposite  poHcy — to  maintain  Turkey  against  Russia.  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  unable  to  persuade  the  Parliament  of  that 
day  to  accept  his  poUcy.  But,  whether  wise  or  not,  it  was 
a  perfectly  practicable  policy.     If  he  had  succeeded,   he 


154  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

could  have  taken  office,  and  carried  out  his  policy  at  once. 
He  would  have  had  Russia  on  his  side  ;  and  no  other 
State,  except  Turkey,  would  have  gone  against  him. 

'  But  the  policy  which  is  now  advocated — the  policy 
of  taking  the  rule  over  Armenia,  and  the  rest  of  Asiatic 
Turkey,  away  from  the  Sultan — is  in  a  very  different 
position. 

'  Since  the  recent  massacres,  Austria,  Russia  and 
Germany  have  agreed  to  do  their  utmost  to  maintain  the 
status  quo  as  long  as  they  can.  As  far  as  I  know  France  has 
not  spoken  ;  but  she  would  undoubtedly  have  taken  the 
same  side.  The  policy,  therefore,  which  the  Armenian 
sympathizers  would  advocate  is  not  possible  :  and  therein 
differs  vitally  from  Mr.  Gladstone's  policy  of  1876.  You 
might  turn  this  Government  out,  and  ten  other  Govern- 
ments after  it,  but  you  would  not  be  able  to  accomplish  a 
result  which  Austria,  Russia,  Germany,  France  and  Turkey 
are  determined  to  prevent. 

'  Under  these  circumstances,  I  doubt  whether  any 
practicable  result  can  come  from  any  loud  outcry  here. 

'  Ever  yours  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 


MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  [Hawarden'],  September  13,  1896. — Your  most  kind 
letter  has  just  reached  me  here.  I  must  apologize  for 
the  very  hurriedly  written  and  unconscionably  long  letter 
which  I  wrote  your  Lordship  on  my  arrival  here  yesterday. 
I  had  not  time  to  read  it  over,  and  I  am  afraid  that 
I  may  have  failed  to  convey  my  meaning  clearly.  I 
have  not  said  a  word  to  Mr.  Gladstone  about  it,  nor 
shall  I  till  I  hear  again  from  your  Lordship.  I  will  tell 
him  to-day,  without  hinting  at  my  authority,  that  I  have 
good  reason  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  such  a  compact 
between  Russia  and  Austria  as  your  Lordship  mentions. 
How  dramatic — I  beheve  providential — that  the  leading 
partner  in  that  iniquitous  compact  should  have  been  sum- 
moned to  his  account  immediatelv  afterwards  !     I  think 


ARMENIA  155 


the  probability  now  is  that  IVIr.  Gladstone  will  speak  at 
Chester  ;  but  I  know  that  his  strong  desire  is  to  enlist 
popular  sympathy  in  support  of  any  action  which  your 
Lordship  may  find  it  possible  to  take.  Between  ourselves, 
I  believe  that  he  has  very  little  faith  in  the  Liberal  leaders, 
though  he  does  not  say  much.  When  told  yesterday  that 
Asquith  had  published  a  strongly-worded  letter  in  the 
Daily  Chronicle,  he  said  at  once  "  I  hope  he  has  not  attacked 
the  Government."  I  asked  his  opinion  about  some  such 
policy  as  I  took  the  great  liberty  of  suggesting  in  my  letter 
to  your  Lordship  yesterday.  He  answered,  "  I  dare  say 
you  are  right.  If  nothing  else  can  be  done,  probably  the 
recall  of  our  Ambassador  and  the  dismissal  of  the  Sultan 
would  be  the  best  alternative.  But  I  would  not  urge  that 
on  Lord  Salisbury  publicly  ;  it  would  have  the  appearance 
of  dictating  a  policy,  and  would  make  it  difficult  for  him 
to  adopt  it,  even  if  he  were  inclined  beforehand  to  do  so. 
Stick  to  Coercion,  leaving  him  the  choice  of  the  means  ; 
or  insist  on  the  futility  of  mere  discussion  and  '  Representa- 
tions.' That  can't  hamper  him,  for  it  is  only  what  he  has 
said  himself  more  than  once."  I  assume  that  this  indicates 
the  line  which  he  will  himself  take  at  Chester.  But  I  have 
had  no  opportunity  of  any  private  talk  vnih  him  yet.  I 
mean  to  put  the  following  case  before  him  :  "  Suppose  Lord 
Salisbury  has  information  that  there  is  a  combination  of 
Powers — Austria,  Germany,  Russia,  and  France — to  oppose 
any  action  on  the  part  of  England  which  might,  in  their 
opinion,  endanger  the  stability  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  how 
could  Coercion  be  applied  to  the  Sultan  ?  In  such  a  con- 
tingency, could  England  do  anything  more  than  protest 
and  throw  the  responsibility  of  the  consequences  on  the 
Powers  ?  "  I  will  tell  your  Lordship  what  his  answer  is. 
But  I  shall  probably  have  no  opportunity  of  any  private 
talk  with  Mr.  Gladstone  till  after  the  Sunday  post  is  gone. 
So  I  send  this  letter  beforehand.  I  shall  go  to  London 
to-morrow  to  arrange  a  meeting  of  the  Grosvenor  House 
Committee.  We  can  certainly,  I  think,  keep  pubhc  feeling  in 
London  under  control,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  provinces. 
It  would  be  a  great  help  to  me  if  I  could  know  privately 


156  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

your  Lordship's  mind  as  to  the  poHcy  of  pubhc  meetings. 
The  Standard,  I  see,  calls  for  public  meetings  of  a  non-party 
character  to  strengthen  your  Lordship's  hands.  I  do  not 
think  that  public  meetings  can  be  prevented  now  ;  but 
they  may  be  controlled  ;  and  I  think  I  could  certainly,  as 
Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Grosvenor  House  Committee, 
postpone  any  large  public  meetings  in  London  if  your 
Lordship  thinks  this  advisable. 

'  The  most  telling  thing  of  course  would  be  to  call  public 
meetings  in  support  of  any  action  which  you  might  find  it 
possible  to  take.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that,  in  the  event 
of  your  Lordship  being  thwarted  by  the  combination  which 
you  mention,  a  review  of  the  situation,  with  the  literary 
skill  which  you  have  so  readily  at  your  command,  coupled 
with  warning  as  to  the  consequences  of  letting  things  slide, 
and  the  withdrawal  of  the  British  Ambassador  at  Constanti- 
nople, would  have  an  electrical  effect  all  over  the  world  and 
would  cow  the  pro-Turkish  coalition.  Even  in  despotic 
countries  Governments  cannot  afford  to  defy  public  opinion. 
There  are  indeed  occasions  in  which  autocrats  are  more 
amenable  to  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  than  constitu- 
tional sovereigns  ;  for  under  a  despotism  there  is  no  barrier 
between  the  monarch  and  the  multitude.  I  believe  it  was 
the  pressure  of  public  opinion  in  Russia  that  compelled  the 
Government  of  the  Czar  to  declare  war  against  Turkey  in 
1877.  A  lucid  review  of  the  situation  by  your  Lordship, 
leading  up  to  a  warning  as  to  the  consequences  of  inaction 
and  the  cowp  of  withdrawing  the  Ambassador,  could,  I 
believe,  make  it  impossible  for  the  Powers  to  hold  back  ; 
especially  if  your  Lordship  Avere  to  prove  the  unselfishness 
of  England  by  proposing  a  self-denying  ordinance  by  which 
all  the  Powers  pledged  themselves  to  respect  the  territorial 
integrity  of  the  Turkish  Empire  on  terms  compatible  with 
civihzed  existence  for  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Sultan. 
Even  such  negative  action  on  the  part  of  your  Lordship  as 
I  humbly  venture  to  suggest  would  terrify  the  Powers  in 
their  present  state  of  nervous  anxiety.  The  withdrawal  of 
England  from  the  European  Concert  might  encourage  a  rising 
in  Macedonia,  possibly  in  Arabia,  which  is  always  in  veiled 


ARMENIA  157 

rebellion,  I  believe  the  Powers  would  shirk  the  responsi- 
bility of  facing  such  risks  after  your  Lordship  had  clearly 
saddled  them  with  the  responsibility.  And  you  would  have 
all  England  at  your  back.  As  it  is,  the  Daily  Chronicle  has 
been  for  some  time  appealing  to  your  Lordship  to  champion 
the  national  honour  and  conscience,  w^hich  it  has  been 
accusing  the  Liberal  leaders  of  having  betrayed.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  they  will  now  try  to  ride  into  popular  favour 
on  the  crest  of  the  rising  tide.  But  they  will  try  in  vain. 
The  most  powerful  organ  of  the  Liberal  party  now  is  the 
Daily  Chronicle.  I  know  the  editor,  a  strong  Radical,  but 
a  thoroughly  honest,  manly  fellow  who  takes  his  own  line 
and  has  but  a  small  opinion  of  the  leaders  of  his  party.  I 
shall  see  him  to-morrow,  and  I  think  I  can  keep  him  straight 
without  committing  any  indiscretion.  I  should  like  to 
secure  some  good  Conservative  speakers  if  we  have  a  large 
meeting  in  London  ;  and  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  your 
Lordship's  son,  Lord  Hugh,  would  be  a  good  man  to  have  if 
he  would  agree.  His  speech  on  the  Education  Bill  in  the 
House  of  Commons  made  a  great  impression  even  on  those 
who  differed  from  him.  Mr.  Mundella  characterized  it  as 
far  and  away  the  best  maiden  speech  he  had  ever  heard  ; 
and  a  shrewd  Radical  M.P.,  a  Scotchman,  told  me  that  the 
speech  "  fairly  carried  him  off  his  legs."  I  owe  many 
apologies  for  troubling  your  Lordship.  My  excuse  is  that 
this  question  haunts  and  oppresses  me  day  and  night,  and 
that  I  believe  your  Lordship  has  now  an  opportunity  of 
checkmating  the  cynical  selfishness  of  the  Powers  and  of 
establishing  yourself  firmly  and  permanently  in  the  admira- 
tion and  confidence  of  the  nation.' 


MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  September  14,  1896. — I  have  just  returned  from 
Hawarden  and  have  read  your  most  kind  and  interesting 
letter.  I  quite  see  the  distinction  your  Lordship  draws 
between  the  cases  of  Bulgaria  and  Armenia,  and  I  am 
sure  you  will  need  no  assurance  from  me  that,  so  far 
from   desiring  to   damage   the   Government,   I    am   most 


158  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

anxious  to  do  what  little  I  can  to  support  it.  I  did 
what  I  could  against  Lord  Rosebery's  Government  in  the 
last  General  Election,  and  I  do  all  in  my  power  to  prevent 
its  return  to  office.  I  think  its  mismanagement  of  the 
Armenian  Question  has  been  the  fons  et  origo  malorum. 
I  Avill  also  add  in  strict  confidence,  that  Mr.  Gladstone  has 
no  wish  to  help  the  late  Government  back  to  power.  I  dis- 
cussed the  whole  question  with  him  this  morning.  On 
Saturday  he  was  all  in  favour  of  Coercion,  and  thought  that 
England's  treaty-rights  gave  her  a  locus  standi  for  inter- 
fering alone  in  case  the  other  Powers  held  back.  Finding 
him  this  morning  incredulous  as  to  my  suggestion  of  a 
combination  of  the  four  Great  Powers  to  support  the 
Sultan  against  isolated  action  on  the  part  of  England,  I  read 
him  in  confidence  that  part  of  your  Lordship's  letter  which 
was  returned  to  me  from  Curraghmore.  He  promised  to 
regard  it  as  most  entirely  confidential.  He  was  greatly 
impressed,  and  saw  your  Lordship's  difficulty.  I  think  he 
now  realizes  the  impossibility  of  your  attempting  any  policy 
of  Coercion  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  and  falls  back  on 
my  suggestion  of  withdrawing  the  British  Ambassador  from 
Constantinople  in  order  to  separate  England  from  com- 
plicity with  the  criminal  inaction  of  the  other  Powers.  He 
thought  the  Sultan's  last  insolent  rebuff  might  offer  your 
Lordship  a  good  opportunit}''  for  declining  all  further 
diplomatic  intercourse  with  the  Sultan  until  he  gave 
satisfaction  ;  and  he  cited  Crete  as  a  proof  of  the  success  of 
your  separate  action,  and  an  augury  of  the  success  of  similar 
action  in  Armenia.  He  did  not  like  Lord  Rosebery's  letter. 
He  is  flooded  with  appeals  to  speak  from  different  places  ; 
and  I  think  he  will  decide  to  speak  either  in  Chester  or 
Liverpool.  But  his  earnest  desire  is  to  avoid  doing  or 
saying  anything  which  might  tend  to  embarrass  you.  He 
has  asked  me  to  send  him  some  extracts  from  your  Lord- 
ship's speeches  on  this  question  which  would  enable  him 
to  take  the  line  of  supporting  you.  I  have  seen  also  this 
evening  the  editor  of  the  Daily  Chronicle.  I  wrote  to  him 
from  Hawarden  on  Saturday  evening  to  suggest  that  he 
should  trounce  Lord  Rosebery,   and  he  has  done  it,   as 


ARMENIA  159 

you  will  see  in  his  first  leader  to-day,  which  I  enclose. 
At  present  I  think  I  can  keep  the  Daily  Chronicle  and 
the  Observer  and  the  Sunday  Times  and  the  Guardian  and 
Spectator  straight.  But  the  tide  of  indignation  is  rising 
fast,  and  I  don't  think  it  will  be  possible  to  stem  it,  though 
it  may  be  guided  along  moderate  and  safe  channels.  It 
will  be  hard,  yet  I  think  I  can  prevent  any  public  meetings 
of  any  importance  in  London  before  the  middle  of  October. 
But  if  the  Grosvenor  House  Committee  do  nothing  at  all 
the  agitation  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Guinness  Rogers 
and  the  Nonconformists  in  the  interest  of  Lord  Rosebery. 
At  present  the  Grosvenor  House  Committee  is  a  power  in 
the  country,  and  we  can  help  the  Government  up  to  a  certain 
point.  Beyond  a  certain  point  we  cannot  go  without  losing 
all  our  influence.  May  I  run  down  to  see  your  Lordship 
for  an  hour,  to  lay  all  the  facts,  as  I  know  them,  before 
you,  and  especially  Mr.  Gladstone's  views  ?  I  am  afraid 
of  troubling  you  with  too  long  a  letter  ;  but  will  write 
again  if  your  Lordship  cannot  see  me.  Nobody  knows  me 
thereabouts,  and  I  could  say  all  I  have  to  say,  and  have 
your  Lordship's  views  in  reply  in  half  an  hour,  and  nobody 
would  be  the  wiser.  I  will  hold  myself  in  readiness  to  come 
at  a  moment's  notice.  Mr.  Gladstone  told  me  to-day  that 
he  believed  your  heart  was  much  more  in  the  matter  than 
Lord  Rosebery's,  and  his  earnest  wish  is  to  support  you. 
But  he  seems  to  have  quite  made  up  his  mind  that  further 
diplomatic  representations  to  the  Sultan  are  positively 
mischievous.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  September  15,  1896. — You  must  hate  the  look  of 
my  handwriting,  overwhelmed  as  you  are  with  corres- 
pondence. But  I  was  anxious  not  to  let  a  post  go 
without  writing  to  say  that  a  very  short  summary  of 
a  sermon  of  mine  at  Hawarden  last  Sunday,  which  has 
appeared  in  to-day's  paper,  is  inaccurate.  The  Standard 
account  is  most  accurate.  I  have  sent  a  correction  to 
the  papers.  I  refused  to  preach  in  the  morning  or  to 
take   any  part  in   the  service,  hoping   to  escape   notice. 


160  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

as  I  was  told  that  a  reporter  always  carae  in  from 
Chester  for  the  morning  service,  but  not  for  the  evening 
service.  I  have  just  been  to  the  Spectator  office.  Hutton 
is  away  for  his  holiday,  and  his  colleague  Townsend  is  in 
charge.  Townsend's  pohcy  is  to  invite  the  Czar  to  take 
Constantinople,  if  he  wants  it,  and  come  to  terms  with 
England  as  to  the  best  means  for  settling  the  Eastern 
Question.  He  is  bent  on  that  policy  and  will  have  an 
article  in  that  sense  in  this  week's  Spectator.  I  prefer  the 
poUcy  of  deposing  the  Sultan,  coupled  with  a  self-denying 
ordinance  on  the  part  of  the  Great  Powers  ;  and  in  case  of 
failure,  cessation  of  diplomatic  intercourse  with  the  Sultan. 
I  believe  it  to  be  quite  impossible  to  stop  the  agitation,  but 
that  it  may  be  guided  on  lines  of  prudence.  I  should  like 
to  give  your  Lordship  my  reasons  for  this  opinion  if  you 
could  spare  me  half-an-hour's  conversation.  It  is  so  easy, 
when  one  is  imperfectly  informed,  to  make  a  mistake  mth- 
out  intending  it.  .  .  .  I  enclose  the  Daily  Chronicle's  articles 
to-day.  The  first  was  partly  suggested  by  me — I  mean  in 
so  far  as  it  recognizes  in  a  general  way  your  Lordship's 
difficulties,  and  gives  you  credit  for  the  Cretan  settlement.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

September  15,  1896. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obhged  to  you 
for  your  interesting  letters  and  also  for  your  very  kind 
offer  to  come  down  here  ^  to  confer  with  me. 

'  But  I  am  afraid  that  I  cannot  encourage  you  to  carry 
out  your  considerate  design.  You  carry  a  flag — and  your 
coming  would  give  an  occasion  to  many  unfounded  in- 
ferences. Though  I  fully  appreciate  the  kind  spirit  in 
which  you  are  deahng  with  this  agitation,  I,  of  course,  am 
far  from  urging  or  backing  it,  and  must  avoid  where  I  can 
the  appearance  of  doing  so.  I  see  the  foreign  newspapers, 
in  their  queer  view  of  things  Enghsh,  are  already  suggesting 
that  the  agitation  is  got  up  by  the  Government. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

1  Walmer  Castle. 


ARMENIA  161 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'September  16,  1896. — I  quite  see  the  difficulty.  I 
thought  I  might  run  down  to  see  you  without  anyone 
knowing  it,  just  as  I  thought  I  would  preach  in  the 
evening  at  Hawarden  Church  without  anyone  knowing  it. 
I  was  obliged  to  touch  on  Armenia,  for  I  wanted  money 
for  our  ReHef  Fund.  The  agitation  cannot  be  stopped, 
but  may  be  guided,  I  think.  I  beheve  I  can  keep  London 
quiet  for  the  present  by  a  little  Fabian  policy,  letting 
off  steam  in  harmless  meetings  on  the  subject,  but  pre- 
venting any  large  demonstration.  Your  Lordship  may 
have  seen  something  about  the  "  Byron  Society."  It  is, 
in  fact,  the  Grosvenor  House  Committee  under  an  alias. 
We  manage  it,  and  between  the  two  we  occupy  the  field, 
and  it  is  impossible,  for  the  present,  to  get  up  any  demon- 
stration outside  of  us.  But  the  heather  is  on  fire  all  over 
the  country.  I  have  got  a  letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Ripon 
saying  that  there  is  to  be  a  great  meeting  in  Bradford  next 
Monday  at  which  he  is  to  speak.  He  asks  me  what  line 
he  should  take.  The  Times  is  foolish  in  trying  to  stop  the 
agitation,  instead  of  giving  it  a  lead  and  a  policy.  I 
hope  to  have  time  to-day  to  write  a  signed  article  for 
to-morrow's  Daily  Chronicle  to  scotch  the  furtive  attempts 
of  the  Daily  News  and  National  Liberal  Federation  to  reap 
any  Party  advantage  from  the  agitation.  If  the  Con- 
servatives are  only  prudent  and  don't  oppose  the  agitation, 
it  may  turn  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  Government.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  September  19,  1896. — The  enclosed  letter  from  Mr. 
Gladstone  ^  missed  me  owing  to  my  temporary  absence  in  the 
country.  It  is  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  me  urging  the  reasons 
which  your  Lordship  gave  me  for  the  difference  between  the 
circumstances  of  1876  and  1896.     I  think  you  ought  to  see 

*  In  the  enclosed  letter  Gladstone  described  the  apprehension  of  war  with 
the  Northern  Powers  as  '  speculative '  (see  p.  261). 

M 


162  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

the  letter  at  once  without  my  waiting  to  ask  Mr.  Gladstone's 
permission.  But  the  original  is  not  very  legible,  and,  as 
your  Lordship's  time  is  very  precious,  I  am  having  a  clear 
literal  copy  made.  As  I  am  writing  this,  I  will  try  to  tell 
you  Mr.  Gladstone's  mind  exactly  as  he  told  it  to  me.  His 
earnest  desire  is  to  support  your  Lordship,  and  his  difficulty 
hitherto  in  yielding  to  entreaties  that  he  would  speak 
has  been  the  fear  of  embarrassing  you.  Now  that  some 
organs  of  the  foreign  Press  are  accusing  your  Government 
of  fomenting  agitation,  he  thinks  that  an  expression  of  his 
opinion  in  favour  of  strong  action  would  help  you  abroad. 
He  beheves  that  some  such  proposal  as  he  suggests  would 
avoid  all  danger  of  war.  It  would  commit  the  Govern- 
ment to  nothing.  He  does  not  beUeve  that  the  Northern 
Powers  would  threaten  to  resist ;  on  the  contrary  it  would 
bring  the  Powers  to  their  senses  and  make  them  act  with  you  ; 
if  not  in  the  way  he  proposes,  then  in  some  other  way  that 
would  be  effective  ;  and  that,  if  they  really  threatened  to 
oppose,  it  would  throw  on  them  the  whole  responsibiHty 
and  make  England's  position  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  a 
grand  one.  He  will  support  you  through  thick  and  thin 
in  any  action  to  separate  England  from  any  further  com- 
pUcity  in  the  guilt  by  a  continuance  of  the  method  of 
"  representations  to  the  Sultan."  My  o\\ti  position  is  an 
extremely  difficult  one.  I  have  hardly  stopped  for  some 
days  answering  the  piles  of  letters  which  reached  me  daily. 
The  country  is  in  a  highly  inflammable  condition.  For 
instance,  I  have  received  a  letter  from  an  indignant  Con- 
servative gentleman  (a  wealthy  merchant)  suggesting  that, 
if  the  Government  cannot  move,  private  persons  should 
follow  the  example  of  English  sympathizers  with  Itahan  and 
Spanish  freedom,  and  help  the  victims  of  Turkey  in  Europe 
and  Asia  with  arms,  and  in  other  ways.  He  suggests  the 
chartering  of  a  ship  to  land  arms,  and  he  says  that  he  will 
gladly  contribute  £5000. 

'  My  advice  in  regard  to  public  meetings  is  to  give  the 
Government  a  free  hand,  and  resolve  to  support  it  in  any 
effective  action  for  relieving  the  national  conscience  from 


ARMENIA  163 

any  further  complicity  with  the  policy  of  mere  argument  and 
persuasion  addressed  to  the  Sultan.  Hot  remonstrances 
are  addressed  to  me  for  not  getting  the  Grosvenor  House 
Committee  to  call  a  meeting  in  London,  and  I  am  writing 
some  signed  articles  in  the  Daily  Chronicle,  partly  to  gain 
time  by  thrashing  the  subject  out  and  partly  to  test  the 
trend  of  public  opinion  ;  partly  also  to  vindicate  your  Lord- 
ship's whole  position  so  far  on  the  Eastern  Question.  I 
shall  deal  with  that  subject  on  Monday.  I  hope  your  Lord- 
ship may  be  able  to  influence  the  Czar  to  join  himself  with 
your  policy  now  that  Prince  Lobanoff  is  gone  ;  but  you 
are  regarded  in  Russia  as  a  poUtical  enemy  ;  and  I  think 
I  can  show  that  Russia  has  good  reason  to  be  grateful  to 
you  ;  and  the  Christians  of  Turkey  also.  I  shall  found  my 
argument  on  official  evidence. 

'  Lord  Rosebery  and  the  Daily  News  put  out  feelers  to 
see  how  far  they  could  go  in  making  this  a  Party  question. 
I  think  I  have  quashed  that  attempt  in  the  Daily  Chronicle. 
Harcourt  is  lying  low  to  see  how  the  cat  is  going  to  jump. 
I  have  a  rod  in  pickle  for  him  also  if  he  tries  to  do  mischief, 
and  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  use  it  if  necessary.  He  was 
largely  instrumental  in  preventing  Lord  Rosebery's  Govern- 
ment from  doing  anything  for  the  Armenians.  I  don't 
think  we  can  avoid  having  a  meeting  in  St.  James's  Hall 
soon,  else  a  meeting  will  be  held  without  us.  My  plan  is  to 
get  a  Bishop  or  an  Archbishop  to  preside,  so  as  to  make  the 
meeting  more  Christian  than  pohtical.  Some  members  of 
Lord  Rosebery's  Government  wish  to  speak  ;  but  we  shall 
not  allow  them  ;  first,  because  they  could  hardly  avoid  giving 
the  meeting  a  Party  character ;  secondly,  because  they  made 
such  a  mess  of  the  Armenian  Question  when  they  might 
easily  have  settled  it.  May  I  presume  to  give  an  opinion  of 
my  own  on  the  question  ?  I  am  sure  from  all  correspondence 
that  reaches  me  that  the  wish  of  the  whole  country  is  to 
back  you  up  in  anything  that  separates  England  from 
acquiescence  in  a  policy  of  inaction.  Make  a  distinct 
proposal  to  the  Powers,  and,  if  they  reject  it,  throw  the 
risk    of    all  that  may  follow  on  them,  and  withdraw  our 

M  2 


164  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Ambassador.  I  am  sure  the  Powers  would  not  dare  to  take 
the  responsibiUty,  and  you  would  spring  at  a  bound  into  the 
position  of  the  first  statesman  in  Europe.  In  any  case  the 
country  would  be  satisfied  with  your  having  done  your  best. 
It  would  be  a  fatal  mistake  for  Conservatives  to  abstain 
from  attending  public  meetings.  The  more  of  them  take 
the  chair,  the  better.  It  is  also,  I  think,  a  mistake  to  say 
we  cannot  fight.  It  is  to  invite  insolence.  We  need  not 
fight,  but  we  ought  not  to  say  that  we  cannot.  I  venture 
to  send  in  a  separate  envelope  some  articles  from  the 
Daily  Chronicle.  I  am  doing  my  best  for  the  Government 
as  well  as  for  the  Armenians  ;  but  if  your  Lordship  thinks 
that  I  am  doing  mischief,  I  will  retire. 

'  I  can  only  help  to  quench  the  agitation  by  swimming 
some  way  with  the  stream.  The  Daily  Chronicle  is  a  great 
power,  and  I  want  to  lend  to  its  support  of  your  Lordship 
as  much  help  as  I  can.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

''September  19,  1896. — As  your  letter  was  not  marked 
"  private  "  it  occurred  to  me  that  you  might  think  your 
opinion  might  help  Lord  Salisbury  by  showing  the  Northern 
Powers  that  you  were  ready  to  back  him  up  even  if  he  acted 
alone.  But  of  course  I  should  not  publish  it  without  your 
permission,  or  without  Lord  SaHsbury's.  In  my  article 
in  to-day's  Chronicle  I  have  committed  you  to  nothing 
beyond  what  you  have  already  pubUshed.  It  was  just 
because  you  had  made  your  view  so  plain  that  I  think  it 
so  disloyal  or  stupid  on  Lord  Rosebery's  part  to  put  a  spoke 
in  the  wheel  of  your  pohcy.  How  is  it  that  he  never  speaks 
on  a  critical  occasion  without  some  damaging  indiscretion  ? 
His  nonsense  about  "  the  Predominant  Partner "  gave 
a  fatal  stab  to  Home  Rule  for  the  time  being.  And  how 
can  a  leader  expect  to  carry  his  pohcy  when  he  says,  as  Lord 
Rosebery  has  said  more  than  once,  "  I  am  not  an  enthusiastic 
Home  Ruler  ;  I  don't  expect  much  from  it  "  ;  or  "  I  am  not 
enthusiastic  for  Disestabhshment,"  and  then  goes  on  to 
express  a  preference  for  Erastianism  ?     I  expected  so  much 


ARMENIA  165 

from  him,  and  am  dreadfully  disappointed.  He  has  now 
done  the  same  kind  of  mischief  that  Forster  did  on  his  return 
from  Turkey  in  1876.  The  Morning  Post,  Daily  Telegraph, 
Globe,  St.  James's  Gazette,  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  etc.,  are  all 
patting  him  on  the  back  to-day.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  September  19,  1896. — I  have  not  received  your  letter 
back  from  Lord  Salisbury,  probably  owing  to  his  being 
from  home.  .  .  .  Ought  it  not  to  be  published  ?  And 
shall  I  publish  it  ?  It  puts  the  case  so  very  clearly  and 
forcibly.  I  wonder  what  Lord  Salisbury  will  say  to  it. 
He  is  sure  to  tell  me.  When  I  have  your  answer  I  will 
see  the  editors  of  the  Times,  Standard,  and  Daily  Telegraph 
privately,  to  get  them,  if  possible,  to  take  the  right  line, 
and  to  impress  upon  them  the  danger  to  the  Government 
of  its  organs  going  against  you. 

'  Lord  Salisbury,  I  understand,  has  difficulties  in  his 
Cabinet :  Duke  of  Devonshire,  Hicks-Beach,  Cross,  Lans- 
downe,  Goschen,  being  opposed  to  action,  and  now  Lord 
Rosebery  comes  out  with  a  manifesto  in  favour  of  inaction 
and  a  continuance  of  the  tomfoolery  of  the  Concert  of  the 
Powers.  ...  Of  course  the  papers  which  counsel  inaction 
are  jubilant  over  Rosebery 's  letter.  I  suppose  he  will  advise 
the  Prince  of  Wales  to  use  his  influence  with  the  Czar  in 
that  sense.  I  hope  you  have  written  to  the  Prince  to 
impress  him  with  your  point  of  view.  Lord  Rosebery  is 
hopeless  as  a  leader,  I  fear.  .  .  .  He  could  have  settled  the 
Armenian  Question  with  the  greatest  ease  after  the  Massacre 
of  Sassun.  But  he  refused  to  publish  the  reports  from 
his  own  Consuls,  and  then,  when  the  truth  came  out  in 
spite  of  him,  he  tried  to  hoodwink  the  public  by  urging 
the  Sultan — the  author  of  the  massacres — to  appoint  a 
purely  Turkish  Commission  of  Enquiry !  And  noAv  he 
tries  to  put  a  spoke  in  your  wheel. 

'  I  have  been  writing  signed  articles  in  the  Chronicle 
in  favour  of  your  policy. 

'  If  you  let  me  publish  your  letter,  may  I  say  in  a  note 


166  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

accompanying  it,  that  your  earnest  desire  is  to  support 
any  measure  by  means  of  which  Lord  Salisbury  may  be 
enabled  to  sever  England  from  all  comphcity  in  the  con- 
tinued impunity  which  the  other  Powers  grant  the  Sultan 
in  his  work  of  massacre  and  extermination  ? 

'  God  bless  you  for  all  that  you  are  doing  in  this  matter. 
I  will  tell  you  what  Lord  Salisbury  says.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

^September  20,  1896. — The  Italian  Green  Book  is  most 
damning  to  Lord  Rosebery's  Government  as  far  as  Armenia 
is  concerned.  They  are  exhibited  as  a  pack  of  idiots  who 
had  no  policy  at  all,  and  whose  diplomacy  was  singularly 
well  calculated  to  encourage  the  Sultan.  My  own  impression 
is  that  Harcourt  thought  he  Avas  going  to  win  the  elections 
by  his  Budget  and  Local  Veto  Bill,  and  did  not  want  the 
Armenian  Question  to  divert  public  attention  from  his  great 
achievements,  and  Rosebery  was  too  weak  to  take  a  line  of 
his  own  ;  while  Lord  Kimberley  was  too  phlegmatic  to  in- 
terest himseK  in  the  Armenians.  Only  four  months  ago  he 
calmly  told  me  that  he  believed  the  stories  of  massacres  and 
outrages  to  be  greatly  exaggerated.  It  hardly  lies  in  Lord 
Rosebery's  mouth  now  to  accuse  Lord  Salisbury's  policy  of 
being  "  neither  spirited  nor  skilful."  Anything  more  imbecile 
than  his  policy  cannot  well  be  imagined.  And  now  he  has 
gone  dead  against  your  policy  and  encourages  yesterday's 
Scotsman  (at  least  by  his  letter)  to  make  a  violent  attack 
on  the  agitation.  "  Lord  Rosebery,"  says  the  article,  "  is  a 
much  safer  guide  for  the  Liberal  party  than  Mr.  Gladstone." 
God  save  us  from  such  guides  !  I  have  much  more  con- 
fidence in  Lord  Salisbury.  He  told  me  a  year  ago  that  he 
found  his  hands  tied  by  the  policy  and  diplomacy  of  his 
predecessors.  Your  letter  suggesting  the  method  of  a 
material  guarantee  has  much  impressed  him.  He  has 
written  in  a  very  friendly  way  about  it,  and  I  think  he  is 
considering  it  together  with  other  plans.  The  thing  now 
is  to  encourage  him,  and  give  him  a  free  hand.  I  doubt 
whether  he  has  not  at  this  moment  a  majority  of  the  Cabinet 


ARMENIA  167 

against  such  a  strong  measure  as  you  suggest ;  and  I  wish 
I  felt  sure  that  the  Queen  was  with  him.  He  was  a  httle 
hurt  by  your  accusing  him  of  being  "  a  dupe  or  a  victim." 
Perhaps  you  could  say  something  at  Liverpool  in  another 
sense.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  September  20,  1896. — I  am  very  sorry  I  forgot  to  send 
you  the  extracts  from  Lord  Salisbury's  speeches  on  which 
you  might  found  your  speech  :  the  speech  in  which  he 
said  that  mere  "  representations "  to  the  Sultan  were 
futile  ;  and  the  speech  (quite  lately)  in  which  he  called 
the  Turkish  Empire  "  a  gangrene  "  which  might  necessitate 
drastic  treatment.     They  shall  be  sent  to-morrow. 

'  Lord  Rosebery's  letter  in  yesterday's  papers  is  doing 
a  world  of  mischief,  and  will  strengthen  the  party  in  the 
Government  which  is  opposed  to  action.  I  am  writing  a 
series  of  signed  articles  on  the  subject  in  the  Daily  Chronicle, 
and  I  have  taken  upon  me  to  say — as  there  was  no  time  to 
lose — that  Lord  Rosebery's  policy  is  not  your  policy,  and 
that  if  Lord  Salisbury  will  take  "  separate  action,"  as  you  did 
in  1880,  you  will  back  him  up.^  I  have  also  given  a  dig  to 
Sir  Charles  Dilke,  whose  lead  Lord  Rosebery  has  followed. 
Dilke  was  continually  doing  mischief  in  1876-7,  throwing 
cold  water,  as  much  as  he  dared,  on  your  policy. 

'  I  will  send  you  to-morrow  morning  an  article  of  mine 
in  which  you  will  find  Austria's  policy  exposed  out  of  the 
Blue  Books.  It  is  worse  than  Russia's,  and  Goluchowski 
is  a  greater  sinner  than  LobanofiF.  I  know  nothing  more 
cynically  brutal  than  Goluchowski's  policy,  as  expounded 
by  himself  in  the  passages  which  I  have  quoted.  It  is  a 
calm  confession  that  the  extermination  of  the  Armenians, 
*'  appalling  "  as  he  confesses  it  to  be,  must  be  permitted 
rather  than  incur  any  risk  to  Austrian  interests.  That  is 
what  it  comes  to.     I  hope  you  will  pillory  it  at  Liverpool. 

1  Letters  from  Lord  Rosebery,  respecting  the  Armenian  agitation,  were 
published  on  September  19,  24,  and  26,  1896.  MaeColl's  strictures  appeared 
in  the  Daily  Chronicle  on  the  17th,  18th,  19th,  21st,  23rd,  25th,  2Cth,  28th,  and 
29th  of  the  same  month. 


168  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

But  may  I  venture  to  express  humbly  my  opinion  that  it 
would  be  prudent  to  say  nothing  about  Lobanoff  till  it  is 
certain  that  the  Tsar  is  hopeless  ?  I  am  inclined  to  hope 
much  from  the  Tsar's  and  Tsarina's  visit  to  this  country. 
'  Does  history  record  a  single  act  of  generosity  on  the 
part  of  Austria,  or  any  blow  ever  struck  by  her  in  the  cause 
of  any  freedom  but  her  own  ?  ' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

September  21,  1896. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obUged  to  you 
for  your  letter  and  its  enclosure.  I  understand  from  Lady 
Salisbury  that  you  are  expecting  a  comment  on  the  latter 
from  me.  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  right  for  me  to  enter 
upon  any  matter  of  controversy,  for  I  could  hardly  make 
myself  fully  understood.  The  letter  is  exceedingly  interest- 
ing, and  raises  several  points  on  which  a  long  discussion 
might  be  taken.  What  in  certain  contingencies  would  the 
Porte  do  ? — what  in  certain  contingencies  would  the  three 
Emperors  do  ?  These  are  questions  of  great  moment,  to 
which  it  is  true  that  only  a  "speculative  "  answer  can  be 
given.  Unfortunately  that  is  the  case  with  most  endeavours 
to  form  a  forecast  in  things  political.  In  such  matters  men 
may  well  differ  in  the  opinions  which  they  may  form  as  to 
the  probable  result  of  certain  lines  of  conduct.  My  only 
plea  for  leaning  to  the  cautious  side  is  that  any  unnecessary 
hazard  might  lead  to  such  appalling  consequences. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'September  26,  1896. — How  very  good  of  you  to  write 
to  me  when  you  have  so  much  to  do,  and  so  soon 
after  your  great  speech  at  Liverpool.^  I  wanted  to 
have  gone  to  Liverpool,  to  hear  you,  but  could  not 
get  away.  I  think  your  speech  quite  splendid,  so  compre- 
hensive and  luminous  and  judicious,  as  well  as  eloquent. 
It    is    sure    to    have  a   great  effect.     It    has    raised    the 

^  Delivered  in  Hengler's  Circus,  September  24,  189G. 


ARMENIA  169 

whole  question  to  a  higher  level,  and  will  compel  all 
Europe  to  think.  Yes,  the  Clubs  are  detestable,  and  the 
Times  and  Telegraph  imbecile ;  the  Standard  is  much 
better.  All  the  papers  treat  you  with  great  admiration 
and  respect.  I  believe  they  received  a  hint  beforehand  that 
Lord  Salisbury  regarded  your  intervention  from  a  friendly 
point  of  view. 

'  I  have  just  written  a  hurried  article  for  to-morrow's 
Observer  in  reply  to  the  Times  and  other  critics  of  your 
speech.  I  have  tried  to  put  the  true  points  of  your  speech 
succinctly  as  regards  Coercion,  and  I  have  corrected  a 
gross  misrepresentation  by  the  Times  of  the  agreement 
between  Lobanoff  and  Goluchowski.  The  Times  doubt- 
less got  the  information  about  the  agreement  which  Lord 
Salisbury  told  me,  and  has  perverted  it. 

'  In  sending  your  letter  about  material  guarantees  to 
Lord  Salisbury,  I  asked  him  if  he  objected  to  its  publication 
if  you  did  not.  His  letter  in  reply  is  very  friendly,  though 
he  does  not  commit  himself ;  and  he  makes  no  objection  to 
the  publication  of  your  letter.  So  I  have  felt  free  to  write 
more  plainly  in  to-morrow's  Observer  in  explaining  your 
speech,  though  I  have  hardly  gone  beyond  the  speech  itself. 
'  Rosebery's  letter  is  deplorable,  and  he  has  the  Scotsman 
backing  him  up  enthusiastically.  That  will  hardly  help  him 
to  keep  his  hold  on  his  party.  But  "  he  that  will  to  Cooper 
maun  to  Cooper.^^  ^  The  Scotsman  has  honoured  me  with 
two  leading  articles,  attacking  me. 

'  The  agitation  is  going  on  apace.  I  get  heaps  of  appli- 
cations every  day  to  speak  at  public  meetings.  Mr.  E. 
Lyttelton  ^  has  made  me  promise  to  speak  at  Hertford 
next  Friday.  You  have  now  given  the  meetings  a  policy, 
which  is  a  great  matter.  Lord  Hugh  Cecil  is  going  to 
speak  at  a  meeting  at  Greenwich,  his  mother  tells  me. 
Yes,  Rosebery  is  lagging  behind  Lord  Salisbury.  Thus 
far  Bury  is  decidedly  better  than  Bery. 

'  I  hope  you  have  not  suffered  from  your  grand  effort. 
God  bless  you  for  it.' 

^  The  editor  of  the  Scotsman  was  C.  A.  Cooper. 
-  Head  Master  of  Haileyburj'. 


170  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'September  28,  1896. — I  could  not  get  a  copy  of  the 
Observer  yesterday.  I  now  enclose  my  article  on  your 
speech.  It  is  badly  written,  for  I  had  to  write  it  in  a 
desperate  hurry.  I  hope  I  have  not  transgressed  the  legiti- 
mate Hmits  of  "  economical  "  language  (in  the  theological 
sense)  in  saying  that  the  information  was  from  Vienna.  It 
is  strictly  true,  for  Lord  SaKsbury  told  me  that  he  had  his 
information  from  Vienna. 

'  You  see  your  speech  has  had  a  great  effect  on  European 
opinion.  The  German  Press,  and  Bismarck's  organ  in 
particular,  are  cursing  and  swearing  at  you — the  highest 
comphment  which  they  could  pay  you.  In  case  you  may 
not  have  seen  them  elsewhere,  I  enclose  some  extracts 
from  the  Russian  papers  which  used  to  be  most  hostile  to 
England.  It  is  a  significant  change,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  your  speech  has  been  the  principal  factor  in  their 
conversion.  My  revelations  in  the  Chronicle  have,  I 
beUeve,  helped.  My  last  two  articles  were  telegraphed  to 
St.  Petersburg.  There  can  be  no  permanent  combination 
between  Russia  on  the  one  hand,  and  Germany  and 
Austria  on  the  other. 

'  What  a  fool  Greenwood  is,  with  all  his  cleverness  ! 
He  has  given  me  just  the  opportunity  which  I  wanted  for 
separating  Lord  Salisbury's  poHcy  from  Lord  Beacons- 
field's.  I  could  not  very  weU  have  done  it  till  he  gave  me 
an  opening. 

'  I  cannot  understand  Lord  Rosebery.  He  has  appar- 
ently lost  his  temper,  and  seems  to  be  resolved  to  show 
that  he  can  hold  his  own  against  you.  .  .  .  But  he  has 
done  mischief  in  Scotland,  and  the  Daily  Telegraph  to-day 
has  a  leader  praising  his  wise  statesmanship.  I  wonder  if 
you  could  drop  a  note  to  the  Speaker  (privately)  to  warn 
Rosebery  of  the  damage  he  is  doing  to  his  leadership.  The 
Editor  ^  is  a  great  friend  of  his.' 

^  Sir  Wemyss  Reid. 


ARMENIA  171 


MacColl  to  Gladstone 


'  September  29,  1896. — It  never  occurred  to  me  to  quote 
or  in  any  way  make  use  of  anything  in  any  of  your  letters 
to  me.  In  my  hurriedly  written  article  in  last  Sunday's 
Observer  I  founded  myself  entirely  on  your  speech,  and  I 
hope  I  said  nothing  indiscreet. 

'  The  Philistines  are  upon  me  now.  In  a  leading  article 
last  Friday  the  Daily  Telegraph  called  me  "  an  amateur 
pohtician,"  and  accused  me  of  preaching  "  a  crusade  against 
the  Crescent."  I  wrote  a  letter,  which  they  put  in  a  promi- 
nent place,  indignantly  denying  the  accusation.  Then  they 
fell  back,  in  another  leader,  on  "  the  trend  of  my  innumerable 
essays  for  twenty  years."  I  wrote  them  another  letter 
yesterday  challenging  them  to  prove  their  assertion  out  of 
any  essay  of  mine,  and  stating  the  distinction  which  I  have 
always  made  between  Islam  as  a  religious  creed  and  Islam 
as  a  political  system.  That  letter  they  have  also  put  in 
large  type  on  the  front  page,  and  Lawson  has  privately 
written  me  a  handsome  letter  of  apology.  An  amusing 
letter  from  an  Indian  Mussulman  from  Lincoln's  Inn  appears 
in  the  same  paper  undertaking  to  prove  the  "  D.T's  " 
original  charge  by  a  quotation  from  my  speech  at  St.  James's 
Hall  last  year.  The  fool  has  fathered  on  me  a  passage  from  the 
speech  of  Dr.  Story,  then  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  ! 

'  To-day  that  bumptious  charlatan,  ,  has  written 

an  attack  on  me  in  the  Tiines  for  my  criticism  of  Rosebery's 
letters,  and  the  Times  back  him  up  in  a  leader  in  which  it 
praises  Lord  R;Osebery  to  the  skies,  and  calls  me  "  a  reverend 
amateur  in  statecraft."  I  have  defended  myself  in  a  letter 
which  they  are  bound  to  put  in.  I  have  also  written  another 
signed  article  for  the  Daily  Chronicle  of  to-morrow  ;  and 
if  you  find  time  to  run  your  eye  through  it  I  should  be  much 
obliged  if  you  could  let  me  know  in  a  line  whether  you 
think  I  have  overstated  my  case.  Rosebery  has  done 
immense  mischief.   .   .   . 

'  Your  speech  has  roused  Europe  ;  and,  if  the  idiotic 
Times  had  backed  you  up,  the  Sultan  would  have  caved  in, 
I  believe.' 


172  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  October  4,  1896. — After  the  Bishop  of  Rochester  ^ 
undertook  to  preside  at  the  London  Meeting  on  the  19th, 
I  left  the  choice  of  speakers  to  him,  and  I  am  sorry  that 
he  appears  to  have  asked  Lord  Rosebery,  who  has  fortu- 
nately refused.  I  don't  know  the  Bishop  of  Rochester's 
address,  but  I  have  written  to  beg  Mr.  Gladstone  to  teU 
the  Bishop  that  no  member  of  our  late  Government  must 
be  asked  to  speak  unless  some  member  of  the  present 
Government  speaks. 

'  Lord  Rosebery's  letters  clearly  show  that  he  is  afraid 
of  your  achieving  a  personal  triumph  in  the  matter.  He  is 
Hke  the  fox  that  lost  its  tail.  His  own  management  of  the 
question  was  such  a  deplorable  fiasco  that  he  is  jealous  of 
your  Lordship  taking  any  initiative  which  might  lead  to  the 
settlement  of  the  question,  and  thereby  expose  his  failure 
more  conspicuously  by  the  contrast.  Now  I  want  not  only 
to  see  the  question  settled,  but  to  see  it  settled  by  you  ;  and 
that  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the  Armenians,  but  for  the 
sake  of  England  also.  I  look  upon  our  future  with  some 
apprehension.  Everything  depends  upon  our  Church  retain- 
ing and  extending  her  hold  on  the  nation  ;  and  that  again 
depends  on  the  fair  settlement  of  the  Education  Question. 
Now  if  your  Lordship  were  by  your  initiative  to  carry  the 
Powers  or  some  of  them  with  you,  or  failing  to  do  so  were 
to  decline  to  act  with  them  as  in  Crete,  you  would  at  a  bound 
obtain  a  moral  and  parliamentary  authority  in  this  country 
which  would  enable  you  to  carry  almost  any  measures  you 
pleased  in  Parliament.  At  present  you  occupy  a  unique 
position  such  as  no  Minister  has  occupied  during  this 
century.  There  is  no  Opposition.  I  beheve  the  agitation, 
if  properly  managed,  would  strengthen  the  hands  of 
the  Government  immensely,  especially  on  the  Continent. 
Foreign  Governments  and  the  Sultan  now  see  that  the  agita- 
tion is  spontaneous  and  disinterested,  and  that  the  country 
is  ready  to  back  you  up  in  any  measure  you  may  think 

1  E.  S.  Talbot. 


ARMENIA  173 

necessary.  I  know  the  feeling  of  the  country,  I  believe, 
as  well  as  most  persons,  and  I  am  convinced  that  the  country 
would  back  you  up  enthusiastically  even  if  you  were  to 
declare  your  intention  to  force  the  Dardanelles.  That  is  a 
very  different  thing  from  urging  or  recommending  you  to  do 
it,  but  surely  it  will  strengthen  your  diplomacy  if  foreign 
Governments  see  that  the  country  gives  you  carte  blanche, 
without  any  kind  of  restriction,  for  action,  separate  or 
in  concert  with  the  other  Powers.  My  own  hope  is  that 
you  may  be  able  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  Russia 
and  France,  which  would  probably  carry  Italy  also.  But 
of  all  things  I  feel  morally  certain  that,  in  the  present  state 
of  Austrian  nervousness,  fighting  against  England  is  the 
very  last  thing  she  dreams  of. 

'  The  Power  that  shows  the  boldest  front  and  the  strongest 
determination  will  carry  the  day.  Your  Lordship  need 
have  no  apprehension  as  to  any  attack  from  the  Liberal 
side.  I  am  a  person  of  small  consequence  ;  but  on  this 
question  I  believe  I  have  a  good  deal  of  influence.  I  have 
let  it  be  known  at  Liberal  headquarters  that,  if  any  attempt 
were  made  to  embarrass  you  or  make  Party  capital  out 
of  the  Armenian  Question,  I  could  and  would  make  a 
terrible  exposure  of  the  late  Government  out  of  the 
Blue  Books  and  other  sources.  I  was  also  able  to  say 
that  Mr.  Gladstone  would  oppose  any  attack  on  the 
Government. 

'  The  fact  is  that  he  has  been  so  very  busy  with  Butler  ^ 
and  other  non-political  questions,  that  he  had  not  followed 
the  diplomatic  history  of  the  Armenian  Question.  I  gave 
him  a  summary  of  it  out  of  the  Blue  Books  when  I  was  at 
Hawarden.  So  that  he  saw  that  the  Rosebery  Government 
was  to  blame.  Your  Lordship  may  have  noticed  that  he 
drew  a  sharp  line  in  his  Liverpool  speech  between  Rosebery's 
Government  and  yours.  He  expressed  his  hope  and 
expectation  that,  when  the  facts  became  known,  it 
would  be  found  that  ...  the  Government  had  done 
nothing    to    be    complained    of    either    by    omission    or 

1  Gladstone  brought    out  an  edition  of  the  works  of  Bishop  Butler  in 
1896. 


174  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

commission ;  and  since  then  he  has  been  saying  that  he 
has  more  confidence  in  you  than  in  Rosebery.  He  said  so 
last  week  to  Lady  Grosvenor  who  is  his  guest  now.  And, 
in  a  letter  to  me  the  day  of  the  Liverpool  meeting,  he  says 
"  As  far  as  I  can  see,  Salisbury  has  been  much  better  than 
Rosebery  ;  so  that  I  ought  to  prefer  Bury  to  Bery  in  this 
great  matter."  Would  your  Lordship  object  to  a  member 
of  the  Government — say  Mr.  Ritchie — speaking  at  the 
London  meeting  on  the  19th  ?  I  should  Uke  to  know  before 
asking  him.  And  if  Lord  Hugh  is  not,  as  I  hear,  to  speak 
at  Greenwich,  would  there  be  any  objection  to  his  speaking 
at  the  London  meeting  ? ' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  October  4,  1896. — Thank  you  so  much  for  your  most 
kind  letter.  The  Mayor  of  Harrogate  came  to  London 
to  press  me  to  address  a  pubUc  meeting  at  Harrogate, 
which  he  said  would  be  a  crowded  one.  I  agreed  because 
Harrogate  is  rather  a  Tory  place.  I  have  promised 
to  address  some  other  meetings  in  the  North,  and  also 
a  meeting  at  Warminster  on  the  14th,  when  young 
Lord  Bath,  following  the  traditions  of  his  father,  will 
preside. 

'  I  have  been  inundated,  and  so  has  the  editor  of  the 
Chronicle,  with  letters  suggesting  that  my  articles  should 
be  published  in  booklet  form,  and  I  am  going  to  repubUsh 
them.  It  has  been  suggested  to  me  from  various  quarters 
that  I  should  ask  you  if  you  would  mind  kindly  writing  a 
Preface  for  the  republished  articles.  I  hardly  like  doing 
it ;  but,  if  you  saw  your  way  to  write  a  Preface,  of  course 
it  would  ensure  a  large  circulation  and  immediate  atten- 
tion. Of  course  I  need  not  say  that  I  would  make  altera- 
tions of  any  kind  which  you  might  suggest  on  reading  the 
proof.  Two  more  articles  are  to  come  :  one  on  the  tradi- 
tional pohcy  of  Russia,  and  the  last  on  Islam  as  a  pohtical 
system,  with  a  view  of  showing  that  there  can  be  no  reform 
in  Turkey,  and  never  has  been  (except  on  paper)  without 
coercion. 


ARMENIA  175 

*  Wemyss  Reid  is  doing  his  best  (which  is  very  lame)  to 
bolster  up  Rosebery  in  the  Speaker.  His  account  of  the 
events  of  1877-80  is  a  travesty  of  the  facts,  and  I  mean  to 
write  a  letter  for  next  week's  Speaker  to  point  that  out. 
I  don't  suppose  he  will  refuse  to  publish  it.  John  Morley 
told  Massingham  (of  the  Daily  Chronicle)  a  few  days  ago 
that  he  meant  to  support  you  against  Rosebery.  Harcourt 
will  probably  do  the  same.   .   .   . 

'  My  last  article  but  one  (on  Russia's  traditional  poHcy) 
was  sent  to  the  Chronicle  on  Friday,  and  will,  I  hope, 
appear  to-morrow.  I  shall  write  the  last  article  of  the  series 
to-morrow. 

'  I  am  sorry  that  the  Bishop  of  Rochester  asked  (as  I  gather 
from  the  papers)  Lord  Rosebery  to  speak  at  the  meeting 
at  which  he  is  to  preside.  It  was  a  great  mistake  after 
Rosebery's  pronouncements  on  this  question.  Moreover, 
I  have  promised  Lord  Salisbury  privately  that  no  member 
of  the  late  Government  shall  speak  at  the  meeting  unless 
a  member  of  the  present  Government  speaks  ;  and  that 
Rosebery  shall  not  speak  on  any  condition.  Can  you 
kindly  let  the  Bishop  of  Rochester  know  this  ?  I  should 
like  the  Bishop  to  consult  with  me  before  he  fixes  on  any 
speakers.     A  mistake  in  that  matter  might  be  ruinous. 

'  A  thousand  thanks  for  your  noble  service,  which  is 
already  bearing  victorious  fruit.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

''October  11,  1896. — Rosebery  has  passed  all  bounds.^ 
I  am  going  to  speak  at  Harrogate  to-morrow,  and  I 
intend  to  "  deal  faithfully  "  with  Rosebery,  as  they  say 
in  Scotland.  I  can  make  out  such  a  damning  case  against 
him  out  of  the  Blue  Books,  which  he  left  Lord  Salisbury 
to  publish,  that  I  can  afford,  and  mean,  to  be  very  mild 
in  my  language.     The  facts  will  speak  for  themselves. 

'  On  my  return  to  London  I  am  going  to  write  a  Preface 
to  my  republished  articles,  in  which  I  undertake  to  make 

*  Lord  Rosebery  resigned  the  Liberal  leadership  in  a  letter  published  on 
October  8,  and  on  the  following  day  he  made  a  speech  at  Edinburgh,  proclaiming 
his  dissent  from  Gladstone's  policy. 


176  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

mincemeat  of  Rosebery's  speech,  while  very  civil  to  himself. 
I  will  send  you  the  proof  ;  and  if  you  think  3'^ou  can  write 
anything  that  I  may  publish  I  should  be  so  grateful.  I 
want  the  reply  to  Rosebery  to  be  as  widely  circulated  as 
possible.  I  have  spared  him  hitherto,  and  I  mean  to  be 
very  polite  to  him  now.  But  the  facts  are  terrible  ;  I  shall 
give  chapter  and  verse. 

'  I   do  hope  you    will  not   give   another    article 

on  the  Armenian  Question.  He  is  really  a  skunk,  going 
about  London  running  you  down  and  exalting  Rosebery. 
The  Fortnightly  and  Contemporary  Bevieivs  are  friendly  and 
sympathetic. 

'  I  have  asked  Lord  Salisbury  if  he  objects  to  a  member 
of  the  Government  speaking  at  the  St.  James's  Hall  meeting. 
He  does  not  object,  though  he  thinks  it  will  be  a  difhcult 
speech  to  make,  as  Europe  will  really  be  the  audience.^ 
I  have  asked  Ritchie.  Salisbury  is  worth  a  score  of 
Roseberys. 

'  I  return  to  London  on  Tuesday,  and  speak  at  War- 
minster on  Thursday,  Lord  Bath  in  the  chair.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  October  17,  1896. — Lord  Rosebery's  attack  on  Mr. 
Gladstone,  followed  by  Sir  JVIichael  Hicks-Beach's  un- 
friendly criticism  and  Mr.  George  Curzon's  sneering  refer- 
ence to  Mr.  Gladstone,  has  roused  an  intense  feehng  of 
indignation  and  resentment  which  may  end  in  an  ex- 
plosion unless  some  means  are  taken  to  soothe  it.  I  am 
a  little  anxious  about  the  meeting  to-morrow  evening. 
Hitherto  I  have  been  enabled  to  keep  the  whole  Liberal 
party   behind   the   Government,   in   spite  of  one    or   two 

October  7,  1896. 
^ '  Deab  Canon  MacColl, — It  would  not  be  for  me  to  object  to  any 
member  of  the  Government  speaking  on  this  question  :  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact  it  does  not  seem  to  me  objectionable  in  itself.  But  it  would  be  a  very 
difficult  speech  to  make,  because  the  most  important  portion  of  the  audience 
mil  be  the  governments  of  other  countries. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 


ARMENIA  177 

attempts  on  the  part  of  the  Daily  News  and  a  few  other 
papers  to  make  Party  capital  out  of  the  agitation.  But 
the  attacks  that  have  now  begun  to  be  made  on  the  agita- 
tion, and  on  Mr.  Gladstone,  from  the  ]\Iinisterial  side 
will  provoke  the  other  side  to  retaliate.  The  questions 
will  then  become  a  Party  one,  as  in  1876-7,  and  the 
Liberals  will  be  glad  to  unite  on  a  policy  of  opposi- 
tion to  the  Government.  To  prevent  this  I  have  written 
the  enclosed  letter.  If  your  Lordship  thinks  that  I  have 
taken  a  judicious  line,  perhaps  you  would  not  mind 
sending  me  a  reply  which  might  be  read  at  to-morrow's 
meeting,  together  with  my  letter.  It  would  have  a 
calming  effect.^ 

'  The  publication  of  my  letter,  moreover,  would  show 
foreign  nations  that  there  is  no  sort  of  attempt  or  wish  to 
force  your  Lordship's  hands  or  press  any  particular  policy 
upon  you.  Pace  Mr.  George  Curzon,  I  think  the  agitation 
is  calculated  to  strengthen  your  hands,  not  by  any  influence 
of  yourself,  but  by  showing  the  nations  of  the  Continent 
that  you  have  a  free  hand  and  a  united  nation  behind 
you.   .   .   . 

*  I  am  dead  tired,  and  have  scarcely  had  any  sleep  for  a 
fortnight.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  October  19,  1896.— I  am  afraid  you  will  hate  the 
sight  of  my  handwriting,  but  I  should  like  to  tell  you  that 
the  meeting  to-night  was,  I  hope,  all  that  your  Lordship 
could  desire.  It  gave  the  Government  its  entire  con- 
fidence. Your  name  was  constantly  cheered.  Even  Dr. 
Chfford  became  enthusiastic  about  you.  The  only 
jarring  note  was  a  little  gibe  by  Sir  Walter  Phillimore, 
of  all  men.  against  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  and  Anglo- 
Turkish  Convention.  But  it  fell  flat.  The  meeting 
was  the  most  enthusiastic  I  ever  attended  and  the  most 
representative.  There  was  a  warlike  note  in  it,  to  this 
extent   that,   if   the   Government   should  think   even  war 


This  request  was  refused  as  '  eutircly  at  variance  with  usage. 


N 


178  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

necessary,  the  country  would  back  it.  That  will  not 
injure  the  Government  in  the  Concert  of  Europe,  but  rather 
the  reverse,  I  think,  as  showing  that  you  have  a  perfectly 
free  hand  and  a  united  nation  behind  you.  The  fact 
is  that  Lord  Rosebery's  speech  has  deeply  wounded  the 
self-respect  and  manly  courage  of  the  nation.  People 
feel  humiliated  by  his  gratuitous  proclamation  of  our  im- 
potence, and  the  British  Lion  wants  to  show  that  he  is  not 
afraid.  Lord  Rosebery's  name  was  received  with  hisses. 
I  have  never  known  so  striking  a  difference  between 
the  feeling  of  official  and  unofficial  Liberalism  as  that 
between  the  official  and  semi-official  organ  of  the  Oppo- 
sition and  the  feeling  of  the  general  body  of  Liberalism. 
My  feeling  is  that  if  the  Liberals  were  to  go  to  the 
country  now  on  the  policy  of  Lord  Rosebery's  speech, 
scarcely  a  hundred  of  them  would  return.  It  is  so 
kind  of  you  to  be  so  patient  with  me.  Of  course  I  see 
that  you  could  not  write  me  a  letter  to  be  read  at 
the  meeting,  but  would  it  be  possible  for  you  to  write 
me  something  that  I  might  publish  to  express  your 
Lordship's  satisfaction  with  my  explanation  of  the  origin 
and  aims  of  the  agitation  ?  I  mean,  of  course,  if  you 
really  are  satisfied.  It  would  show  to  foreign  Govern- 
ments : 

'  (1)  That  this  Government  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
agitation. 

'  (2)  That  its  aims  are  not  so  wild  as  they  have  been 
represented.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  October  19,  1896. — The  enclosed  newspaper  cuttings 
may  possibly  interest  you  as  indicating  the  reaction 
against  the  Rosebery  speech.  One  is  an  article  which  I 
wrote  in  yesterday's  Observer.  It  was  written  in  desperate 
hurry,  and  I  had  not  time  to  see  a  proof.  The  other 
cutting  is  a  summarized  report  of  a  speech  of  mine  at 
Harrogate  on  Monday  evening  last  week.  Ten  days  ago 
the  Mayor  of  Harrogate  came  to  London  to  ask  me  if  I 


ARMENIA  179 

would  speak  on  the  Armenian  Question  at  a  great  meeting 
which  they  proposed  to  have.  If  I  did,  he  said,  I  could 
have  all  the  speaking  to  myself.  He  was  deputed  to 
tell  me  so.  I  agreed.  I  received  the  report  of  Rosebery's 
speech  on  Saturday  evening  in  Derbyshire,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  reply  to  it  on  Monday  at  Harrogate.  The  meeting 
was  a  representative  one.  The  Mayor,  a  Radical,  was  in 
the  chair,  and  he  was  supported  by  leading  Conservatives. 
The  town  hall,  which  holds  1800,  was  crowded,  and  numbers 
had  to  go  back  for  want  of  room.  The  majority  of  the 
audience  were  Liberals,  the  Mayor  told  me.  I  spoke  for  an 
hour  and  a  half.  The  first  part  of  my  speech  I  devoted 
to  the  Armenian  Question,  till  I  fairly  got  hold  of  the 
audience.  Then  I  began  to  dissect  Lord  Rosebery's  speech, 
and  every  point  I  made  against  him  was  received  with 
cheers.  Only  one  man  in  the  meeting,  a  paid  Liberal 
agent,  tried  to  interrupt  me  ;  and  the  audience  suppressed 
him  summarily.  The  Mr.  Williams  on  the  platform,  who 
tried  in  vain  to  get  the  chairman  to  rule  me  out  of  order,  is 
the  editor  of  the  Leeds  Mercury.  The  audience  was  very 
impatient  with  him,  and,  when  he  got  up  again  to  support 
the  resolution  which  I  had  moved,  the  meeting  would  not 
hear  him  till  I  begged  them  to  do  so.  He  quite  changed  his 
tone  ;  and  the  meeting  passed  a  unanimous  vote  of  thanks 
to  me.  I  think  the  meeting  has  had  a  sobering  effect  on 
the  Leeds  Mercury.  It  begins  to  see  that  the  Rosebery 
ticket  will  not  do.  But  a  still  more  instructive  experience 
was  a  meeting  last  Thursday  at  Warminster.  I  agreed  to 
address  the  meeting  if  Lord  Bath  Avould  preside,  which  he 
did  very  gladly,  and  made  an  excellent  speech  in  the  right 
key.  It  was  a  crowded  meeting,  and  I  again  criticized 
Rosebery's  speech  and  received  the  hearty  cheers  of  the 
audience.  But  the  most  remarkable  fact  was  that  I  was 
followed  by  the  Congregational  minister  of  Warminster, 
who  has  a  large  congregation,  I  was  told.  He  not  only 
backed  up  my  criticism  of  Rosebery's  speech  ;  he  went  far 
beyond  me.  He  denounced  the  speech  as  a  manifesto  of 
gross  political  immorality,  disqualifying  Lord  Rosebery  for 
ever  again  occupying  the  leadership  of  the  Liberal  party, 

N  2 


180  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

He  was  cheered  all  through.  Not  a  solitary  voice  was  raised 
for  Rosebery,  while  your  name,  as  at  Harrogate,  evoked 
loud  cheers.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

'  October  20,  1896. — I  think  it  would  be  imprudent  to 
write  publicly  any  letter  with  respect  to  the  agitation, 
because  our  only  chance  of  exerting  any  influence  over 
the  Powers  is  by  persuading  that  agitation  is  not  our 
doing.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  persuade  people  either 
at  Vienna  or  Berlin  that  the  whole  movement  is  not  a 
got-up  thing  designed  to  serve  some  wily  purpose.  They 
think  this,  because  they  know  that  in  their  own  countries 
no  such  movement  could  possibly  be  raised  except  by 
Government  machinery.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'November  7,  1896. — The  enclosed  circular^  is  from 
a  member  of  the  late  Government.  I  shall  go  to  the 
meeting  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  the  proposal,  and 
I  think  I  shall  succeed.  But  some  members  of  your 
Government  have  made  my  task  more  difficult  than  it 
need  have  been  by  their  most  ungenerous  and  ungrateful 
attacks  on  Mr.  Gladstone  and  their  laudation  of  Lord 
Rosebery  at  Mr.  Gladstone's  expense.  As  soon  as  I  had 
put  Mr.  Gladstone  in  possession  of  the  facts,  showing  the 
mismanagement  of  the  question  by  the  late  Government, 
he  cheerfully  acted  on  my  suggestion  to  rally  the  Liberal 
party  behind  your  Lordship  ;  and  with  his  aid  I  have 
hitherto  been  able  to  prevent  any  Party  action  against  the 
Government.  My  own  belief  is  that  Lord  Rosebery's 
resignation  was  mainly  due  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  rally  of  the 
Liberal  party  in  support  of  the  Government,  and  it  is  rather 
trying  to  find  member  after  member  of  the  Government 
attacking  Mr.  Gladstone  and  praising  Lord  Rosebery. 
I  venture  to  think  that  it  is  a  short-sighted  policy,  too. 
I  have  spoken  at  several  meetings  in  different  parts  of  the 

'  Inciting  Liberals  to  attack  the  Tory  Government  for  its  inaction  about 
Armenia. 


ARMENIA  181 

country,  and  Lord  Rosebery's  name  cannot  be  mentioned 
without  hisses.  I  never  knew  a  case  where  the  London 
Press  and  pohtical  wire-pullers  were  so  completely  out  of 
touch  with  the  feeling  of  the  country.  I  addressed  a 
crowded  meeting  at  Eastbourne  a  while  ago  at  the  request 
of  the  Mayor  (a  strong  Conservative)  who  was  in  the  chair. 
The  member,  Admiral  Field,  also  addressed  the  meeting. 
He  praised  Lord  Rosebery's  speech  and  condemned  Mi*. 
Gladstone's,  and  the  agitation.  He  could  hardly  get  a  hear- 
ing ;  and  my  host,  a  Conservative  and  a  leading  doctor  in  the 
place,  told  me  afterwards  that  the  speech  would  probably 
cost  the  Admiral  his  seat. 

'Your  Lordship  can  help  me  if  you  can  manage  on 
Monday  ^  to  say  something  kind  about  Mr.  Gladstone  and 
sympathetic  about  the  agitation  without  at  all  committing 
the  Government.  'Any  more  attacks  on  Mr.  Gladstone  and 
the  agitation  will  paralyse  my  efforts  to  prevent  efficient 
Liberalism  from  making  this  a  Party  question.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'November  17,  1896.— I  observe  that  Sir  H.  Campbell- 
Bannerman,  in  a  speech  delivered  yesterday,  says  that 
he  "  has  always  been  opposed  to  isolated  action." 
Lord  Rosebery  has  succeeded  in  propagating  an  entirely 
false  impression  of  your  speech,  and  the  other  Liberal 
leaders  go  about  like  parrots,  saying  ditto,  ditto  to  him. 
I  have  done  my  best  to  undo  the  mischief ;  but  my 
influence  is  so  small.  A  Preface  by  you  to  my  book, 
succinctly  restating  your  position,  would  be  read  by  every- 
body, and  would  bring  back  the  question  to  its  true 
position.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  Lord  Salisbury 
proposed  to  the  Powers  some  weeks  ago  some  action  on  the 
lines  of  your  pohcy  .  .  .  just  about  the  time  that  Rosebery 
made  his  most  mischievous  speech.  That  speech,  backed 
up  by  all  Lord  Rosebery's  late  colleagues  who  have  spoken 
on  the  subject,  and  by  the  Daily  iV^eiys  and  Westminster 
Gazette,  together  with  powerful  opponents  in  his  own  Cabinet, 

^  At  the  Lord  Mayor's  Banquet. 


182  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

has  discouraged  Lord  Salisbury.  But  he  reserved  the 
possible  use  of  "  isolated  action  "  in  his  Guildhall  speech ; 
and  I  believe  that  some  pronouncement  from  you  now  in  the 
sense  of  the  Liverpool  speech  would  be  of  immense  service 
to  the  cause.  The  country  is  entirely  with  you,  and  vehe- 
mently against  Rosebery,  Of  this  I  have  had  abundant 
proof  at  large  public  meetings  at  which  I  have  spoken.  The 
great  thing  is  to  keep  public  feeling  alive  on  the  subject, 
and  something  from  your  pen  would  do  it,  as  nothing  else 
can,  and  would  at  the  same  time  give  you  an  opportunity 
indirectly  of  undoing  the  mischief  which  Rosebery  has  done. 

'  I  believe  that  Russia,  too,  is  now  in  a  sympathetic  mood 
— ^largely  due  to  your  Liverpool  speech — and  some  friendly 
words  from  you  would  go  a  long  way  towards  enhsting  the 
sympathy  of  Russia  on  the  right  side. 

'  I  think  George  Russell's  move  unwise,  especially  after 
the  exhibition  of  Lord  Rosebery  and  his  colleagues.^  I  will 
be  no  party  to  attacking  Lord  Salisbury,  and  glorifying 
Rosebery  and  Co.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'November  30,  1896. — Am  I  not  right  in  saying  that 
no  expedition  could  have  saved  Gordon  under  the  circum- 
stances ?  I  am  sick  of  the  Gordon  culte,  and  if  my  time 
were  not  so  much  occupied  I  should  like  to  give  the  public 
the  other  side  of  Gordon's  character.  His  character  was  a 
strange  mixture  :  disinterested  as  regards  money  ;  but  self- 
willed,  arrogant,  impulsive,  bad-tempered,  full  of  spiritual 
pride,  and  willing  to  sacrifice  everything  to  what  he  called 
his  "honour,"  which  he  identified  with  the  honour  of  his 
country.  I  don't  think  it  exaggerated  or  unjust  to  apply 
to  him  Tennyson's — "  His  honour  rooted  in  dishonour 
stood,"  etc. 

'  I  think  you  will  receive  from  Longmans  on  Wednesday 
a  copy  of  my  book  on  "  The  Sultan  and  the  Powers."  The 
first  twelve  chapters  are  a  reprint,  revised  and  enlarged,  of 

1  This   '  move '   was  an  attempt  to  impress  the  gravity  of  the  Armenian 
Question  on  the  conscience  of  the  Liberal  Party. 


ARMENIA  183 

my  articles  in  the  Daily  Chronicle.  I  left  the  references 
to  the  agitation  as  a  record  of  the  aim  and  purpose  of 
those  who  encouraged  and  took  part  in  it.  I  wonder  what 
you  think  of  what  I  said  about  the  origin  of  the  Crimean 
War.  I  am  afraid  you  will  not  like  what  I  have  said  about 
Egypt.  But  I  really  cannot  see  any  alternative  to  the 
British  occupation,  except  making  Egypt  autonomous  under 
a  non-Mussulman  ruler.  Under  Mussulman  rule  everything 
would  relapse  to  the  old  corruption  and  cruelty.  All  the 
same,  I  should  like  to  see  us  out  of  Egypt,  for  I  believe  that 
our  presence  there  is  a  danger  to  the  Empire.  At  the  same 
time  the  French  seem  to  me  to  have  behaved  very  badly. 
Our  promises  to  leave  Egypt  are  not  nearly  as  explicit 
as  the  French  promises  to  leave  Tunis  and  not  to  fortify 
Biserta ;  yet  they  have  practically  annexed  Tunis  and 
fortified  Biserta. 

'  I  thought  Herbert's  speech  at  Leeds  last  week  quite 
admirable  both  from  an  oratorical  and  political  point  of 
view  :  quite  worthy  of  his  father's  son.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  November  30,  1896. — I  am  taking  the  liberty  of  sending 
you  a  book  on  the  Eastern  Question  ;  very  imperfect  and 
crude  I  am  well  aware,  for  I  wrote  it  in  a  hurry.  The  first 
twelve  chapters  are  a  reprint,  revised  and  enlarged,  of 
signed  articles  which  appeared  in  the  Daily  Chronicle.  I  left 
all  references  to  the  agitation  just  as  they  appeared  in  the 
Chronicle,  as  a  record  of  the  aim  and  intention  of  those  who 
had  most  to  do  with  the  agitation.  Two  of  the  articles  were 
telegraphed  to  St.  Petersburg  when  they  appeared — those  in 
which  I  have  described  two  great  services,  as  I  think,  which 
your  Lordship  has  rendered  to  Russia.  My  object  in  writing 
them  was  to  help  to  do  away  with  the  strong  prejudice 
which  has  existed  against  you  in  Russia  since  1877,  and 
thus  perhaps  make  it  easier  for  you  to  bring  about  an 
understanding  with  the  Russian  Government. 

'  I  think  I  have  made  it  quite  impossible  for  the  Liberal 
party  to  make  an  attack  on  your  Lordship  with  regard  to 


184  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Armenia.  But  the  attempt  is  to  be  made.  And  the  attack 
is  to  be  opened  by  Mr.  P.  W.  Clayden,  one  of  the  George 
Russell  Committee,  who  is  also  political  leader-writer  and 
assistant  editor  of  the  Daily  News.  He  is  in  the  press 
with  a  book  attacking  your  Lordship's  whole  policy  on  the 
Eastern  Question  since  1877.  I  think  my  exposure  of  the 
miserable  mess  which  the  late  Government  made  of  the 
Armenian  Question  will  neutralize  Mr.  Clayden's  attack. 
I  hear  also  that  there  is  to  be  a  meeting  in  London  on 
December  9  to  protest  against  the  inaction  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  regard  to  Armenia.  The  policy  of  the  Liberal 
leaders  apparently  is  to  lie  low  till  they  see  the  effect  of 
George  Russell's  movement,  and  act  accordingly.  It  is  too 
bad  of  the  Times  to  insinuate,  and  of  other  papers  to  assert, 
that  George  Russell  has  been  inspired  by  Mr.  Gladstone 
during  a  recent  visit  to  Hawarden.  Mr.  Gladstone  has  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  matter,  and  George  Russell  has 
not  been  to  Hawarden  for  months.  I  wonder  who  invents 
these  lies. 

'  The  country,  I  believe,  is  getting  restive  at  the  con- 
tinued inaction  of  the  Powers.  Lord  Rosebery's  Edin- 
burgh and  Colchester  speeches  have  been  deeply  resented 
in  the  country.  His  sudden  panic  has  wounded  people's 
pride,  and  his  glorification  of  the  gospel  of  "  British 
interests "  versus  moral  obligations  has  revolted  their 
consciences,  as  it  did  when  Lord  Beaconsfield  made  the 
same  appeal  in  a  less  offensive  form  than  Lord  Rosebery. 
The  Chronicle  still  supports  your  Lordship,  as  against 
the  Liberals,  on  the  Armenian  Question.  But  it  too  is 
getting  impatient.  I  wonder  if  your  Lordship  could  tell 
me  privately  anything  of  an  encouraging  nature  of  which 
I  might  make  judicious  use.' 


Salisbury  to  MacColl 

December  4,  1896. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obhged  to  you 
for  the  book  you  have  sent  me  and  which  I  hope  to  have 
an  early  opportunity  of  reading. 


ARMENIA  185 

'  I  do  not  think  people  will  impute  the  inaction  to  her 
Majesty's  Government  when  they  see  the  papers.  But  by 
the  force  of  circumstances  the  deciding  voice  Ues  with 
Russia.  The  fact  that  she  is  the  only  Power  that  can  march 
into  Turkey  without  crossing  the  sea  is  conclusive  of  itself. 
Of  her  I  can  only  say  that  her  tone  is  much  more  satisfactory 
than  it  was  ;  but  I  will  make  no  attempt  at  prophecy. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  December  4,  1896. — I  am  horrified  at  having  wasted 
an  hour  of  your  time  reading  my  letter.  I  will  try  to  be 
brief  now. 

'  I  want  us  to  leave  Egypt  for  the  reasons  which  you  give. 
I  think  that  a  Mohammedan  Government  may  govern 
Mohammedans  with  a  rough  kind  of  justice  ;  though  even 
so  the  tendency  is  always  towards  misrule,  corruption,  and 
cruelty.  But  a  Mohammedan  Government  cannot  govern 
Christian  subjects  justly,  for  the  Christian  lies  under  irre- 
pealable  disabilities  which  make  him  really  an  outlaw.  He 
can  never  become  a  citizen.  Is  there  a  single  exception  in 
the  history  of  Mohammedanism  ?  I  don't  know  one.  Our 
reforms  in  Egypt  are,  in  many  particulars,  opposed  to  the 
immutable  theocratic  law  of  Islam,  and  would  certainly 
not  survive  the  British  occupation  for  a  year.  There  are, 
I  believe,  some  700,000  native  Christians  in  Egypt,  whose 
only  protection  is  foreign  occupation.  But  let  Egypt  be 
severed  from  Turkey  and  be  made  into  an  independent 
Principality  under  a  Christian,  and  then  we  may  leave  it. 
Everything  depends  on  the  ruler  not  being  a  Mohammedan. 
A  Mohammedan  ruler  must  enforce  the  Sacred  Law  which 
governs  the  status  of  the  non-Mussulman  subject.' 


MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  December  6,  1896. — I  am  exceedingly  obliged  by  your 
kind  letter,  which  at  least  gives  some  little  hope  of  a 
change  for  the  better  on  the  part  of  Russia.     But  what 


186  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

pleases  me  best  is  your  Lordship's  assurance  as  to  the 
efforts  of  her  Majesty's  Government. 

'  One  of  my  main  reasons  for  writing  my  book  was  to 
make  it  easier  for  your  Lordship,  if  I  could,  to  come  to  a 
friendly  understanding  with  Russia,  by  proving  that  you  were 
by  no  means  unfriendly  to  her.  F.  Greenwood's  indiscreet 
revelations  ^  enabled  me  to  do  this  on  one  particular  point 
without  compromising  your  Lordship.  Next,  I  have  been 
for  a  long  time  anxious  to  tell  the  true  story  of  your  failure 
at  Constantinople.  As  you  were  away,  you  can  have  no 
idea  of  the  campaign  of  calumny  which  the  jingo  Press 
in  London  kept  up  against  you.  The  Pall  Mall  Gazette, 
then  under  Greenwood,  was  the  worst.  Even  Lady  Salisbury 
was  not  spared.  It  was  plain  that  Greenwood  was  regularly 
in  receipt  of  Cabinet  secrets,  and  now  he  has  avowed  it  in 
his  Cornhill  article.  I  could  never  bring  myself  to  trust 
Lord  Beaconsfield  ;  but  I  did  not  believe  him  capable  of 
such  treachery  as  that. 

'  I  enclose  a  pamphlet  issued  by  the  George  Russell  Com- 
mittee, The  writer  is  assistant-editor  of  the  Daily  News, 
and  one  of  its  principal  political  leader-writers.  The 
pamphlet  probably  indicates  the  line  of  attack  when  Parlia- 
ment meets.  I  think  I  have  by  anticipation  destroyed 
that  line  of  attack  in  my  book. 

'  I  don't  understand  Lord  Rosebery.  His  Edinburgh 
speech  was  a  flat  contradiction  of  his  previous  attitude. 
And  now  he  seems  to  have  turned  his  back  on  his  Edinburgh 
speech,  for  he  told  a  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  last 
week  in  Edinburgh  that  "  he  was  afraid  that  the  Liberal 
party  would  not  go  sufficiently  strongly  against  Lord 
Salisbury."  That  goes  to  confirm  my  suspicion  that  his 
real  quarrel  with  Mr.  Gladstone  was  caused  by  G.'s  expres- 
sion of  confidence  in  the  Government,  Certainly,  until  the 
Edinburgh  speech.  Lord  Rosebery  complained  bitterly  to 
his  friends  that  Harcourt's  opposition  prevented  him  from 
taking,  while  in  office,  a  stronger  line  on  the  Armenian 
Question.     I   have    ventured   to   make   one    or   two   mild 

1  '  Characteristics   of   Lord    Beaconsfield,'   in    the  Cornhill  Magazine  for 
November  1896. 


i 


ARMENIA  187 

criticisms  on  your  Lordship  in  my  book,  partly  in  order  to 
enhance  the  effect  of  my  defence  of  you.  Indiscriminating 
praise  is  bad  advocacy.  I  wonder  if  I  could  send  through 
the  Foreign  Office  a  copy  of  my  book  to  a  rich  Russian 
Armenian  whom  I  know  in  St.  Petersburg.  I  want  to  get 
a  few  hundred  pounds  out  of  him  for  the  Armenian  Relief 
Fund.  The  censorship  is  so  stupid  and  capricious  that  my 
book  might  not  reach  its  destination  if  sent  by  post.  I 
once  sent  a  book  to  St.  Petersburg  by  post.  It  was  an 
innocent  book  on  astronomy,  entitled  "  The  Revolution 
of  the  Heavens."  The  word  "Revolution"  caught  the 
censor's  eye  and  he  read  no  more  but  confiscated  the  book.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  December  27,  1896. — When  I  took  the  Hberty  of  sending 
your  Lordship  a  copy  of  my  last  book,  I  had  never  read  it 
right  through.  I  wrote  it  in  a  great  hurry,  in  the  midst  of 
other  work,  and  sent  it  to  the  printers  day  by  day  as  I  was 
writing  it.  Having  read  it  as  a  whole  I  am  sorry  I  sent  your 
Lordship  a  copy.  It  is  crude  in  parts,  and  badly  arranged, 
and  in  some  places  violent  in  language.  I  should  not,  how- 
ever, think  of  troubling  your  Lordship  with  this  superfluous 
information.  I  write  for  another  reason.  I  had  a  long  con- 
versation last  week  with  M.  de  Staal  on  the  Eastern  Question 
generally,  which  led  to  his  talking  about  my  book,  which  he 
has  read.  He  spoke  favourably  of  it,  and  thought  that  a 
translation  of  it  into  Russian  would  do  good.  He  did  not 
know,  he  said,  that  the  traditional  attitude  of  Russia  and  Eng- 
land towards  each  other  had  been  so  friendly  as  I  had  shown 
it  to  be  in  my  two  chapters  on  that  subject,  and  he  was  sure 
that  it  was  not  generally  known  in  Russia.  He  said  also  that, 
although  he  never  thought  himseK  that  you  had  any  hostile 
feeling  towards  Russia,  he  did  not  know  that  you  had  been 
so  well  disposed  towards  his  country  as  appeared  from  my 
book  ;  and  he  believed  that  this  fact  also  was  not  known  in 
Russia.  The  book  is  therefore  to  be  translated  into  Russian  ; 
and  is  in  course  of  translation  into  French.  But  I  intend 
to  cut  out  a  great  deal  in  both  translations,  and  to  make 


188  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

alterations    in    what    remains,     leaving    out    everything 
calculated  to  give  offence. 

'  My  object  in  writing  to  your  Lordship  is  to  ask  if  I  have 
unintentionally  misrepresented  you  in  any  way,  so  that  I 
may  correct  it,  if  I  have.  I  have  ventured  to  criticize  you 
mildly  in  one  or  two  places,  partly  because  I  believed  what  I 
said,  but  chiefly  because  I  wished  to  prevent  foreign  critics 
thinking  I  was  writing  as  a  partizan  of  the  Government,  and 
perhaps  inspired  by  it.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  December  29,  1896.i — I  did  not  forget  the  day,  but  I 
have  waited  till  the  crowd  of  telegrams  and  letters  were 
out  of  the  way  before  writing  to  tell  you  how  heartily  I  wish 
you  every  good  thing  for  the  coming  year.  I  am  so  glad  to 
learn  from  the  papers  that  yourself  and  Mrs.  Gladstone  are 
in  the  enjoyment  of  good  health.  God  grant  that  that  may 
continue  to  the  end,  and  that  the  end  may  be  distant. 

'  I  met  Lord  Rosebery  twice  last  week,  and  he  was  very 
cordial  in  spite  of  my  attack  on  his  speech. 

'  The  Russian  Ambassador  has  expressed  strong  ap- 
proval of  my  book,  and  a  copy  has  been  sent  to  Russia  for 
translation  into  Russian.  He  said  he  believed  that  Lobanoff 
would  have  changed  his  policy  if  he  had  lived  a  little 
longer  ;  and  he  agreed  with  me  that  Austria  (with  Germany 
behind  her)  was  now  the  chief  obstacle.  But  he  was 
hopeful.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  January  2,  1897. — I  am  much  obliged  by  your  Lord- 
ship's kind  letter.  It  is  a  relief  to  me,  for  I  found  that  in  the 
great  hurry  of  writing  the  book,  I  might  have  committed 
some  indiscretions.  I  am  toning  down  the  book  generally 
for  the  foreign  translations,  and  cutting  out  excrescences. 
I  am  glad  to  infer  from  the  newspapers  that  matters  are  in 
a  more  hopeful  state  at  Constantinople,  and  I  trust  that  the 
issue  will  silence  those  who  insist  that  your  Lordship's  record 

1  Gladstone  was  born  December  29,  1809. 


ARMENIA  189 

on  the  Eastern  Question  unfits  you  to  conduct  negotiations 
on  behalf  of  England.  Part  of  my  object  in  writing  on  this 
subject  was  (1)  to  show  that  your  record,  on  the  contrary, 
quahfied  you  in  a  special  degree  to  deal  with  the  question  ; 
(2)  that  the  responsibility  of  your  failure  at  Constantinople 
in  1877  rests  entirely  on  others.  In  that  respect  my  book, 
hurriedly  put  together  as  it  is,  has  been  a  revelation  to 
people  in  this  country  and  abroad. ,  In  addition  to  what 
M.  de  Staal  told  me,  I  have  had  letters  from  Russia  in  this 
sense,  and  also  from  people  of  some  influence  in  France, 
among  others  from  the  Due  de  Broglie.  M.  de  Staal  said 
to  me  that  if  Prince  Lobanoff  was  now  aUve,  he  believed 
that  he  would  support  your  Lordship's  policy,  or  words 
to  that  effect.  The  letter  from  the  Dean  of  Durham  i  in 
the  enclosed  envelope  is  a  sample  of  several  letters  of  the 
same  kind  which  I  have  received  from  Liberals  of  some 
position  in  England,  and  also  some  Conservative  Church- 
men. A  diplomatic  success  on  the  Eastern  Question  would 
strengthen  your  Lordship's  hands  enormously  on  domestic 
questions,  and  help  you  to  command  a  large  following 
among  Liberals,  to  whom  Christianity  and  morality  are 
of  more  consequence  than  party  manoeuvres.  I  think  my 
dream  of  long  ago  may  be  realized  yet— the  dream  of 
seeing  you  lead  what  is  best  in  both  the  Liberal  and 
Conservative  parties.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  January  25,  1897.— You  are  probably  too  busy  to  have 
read  the  last  batch  of  Parliamentary  Papers.  Those  that 
relate  to  the  Sultan  and  his  doings  are  horrible  enough. 
But  I  think  Lord  Sahsbury  deserves  all  the  confidence  which 
you  and  I  placed  in  him  ;  and  I  think  it  is  a  little  un- 
generous of  the  Daily  News,  Westminster  Gazette,  and  Speaker 
to  taunt  him  with  his  "recantation"  and  "repentance," 
seeing  that  he  has  done  so  much  better  than  his  predecessor. 
It  is  silly,  too,  to  say  that  Lord  SaHsbury's  success  proves 
the  wisdom  of  Lord  Rosebery's  speech.      It  is  your  poHcy, 

1  G.  W.  Kitchin. 


190  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

not  Lord  Rosebery's,  that  Lord  Salisbury  has  adopted.  He 
has  declined,  in  effect,  to  act  any  longer  with  the  Concert 
of  the  Powers  unless  they  adopt  a  policy  of  coercion. 
Thinking  the  taunts  of  the  Liberal  papers  (except  the 
Chronicle)  unfair  to  Lord  SaUsbury,  I  wrote  an  article  in 
yesterday's  Observer,  which  I  enclose.   .  .  . 

'  The  Emperor  of  Russia  has  accepted  a  copy  of  my 
book,  and  has  sent  me  his  thanks  in  very  kind  terms  through 
the  Russian  Ambassador.  The  book  is  being  translated 
into  Russian.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  January  27,  1897.— Thank  you  for  so  fully  explaining 
your  view.  I  do  not  disagree  at  all ;  but  I  overlooked  your 
points,  except  the  first — sole  action  ;  which  I  rather  think 
is  implied  in  Lord  SaHsbury's  despatches,  at  least  so  far  as 
this,  that  he  will  not  act  with  the  Concert  except  on  the 
principle  of  coercion.  In  his  last  Mansion  House  speech,  he 
said  that,  while  he  thought  separate  action  would  then  be 
unwise,  "  he  did  not  debar  separate  action  :  he  would  be  a 
very  imprudent  man  who  did  so."  And  I  cannot  help 
thinking  that  the  extraordinary  volte  face  of  Austria  was  due 
to  some  hint  from  Lord  Salisbury  as  to  separate  action.  He 
has  a  craze  that  an  army  is  necessary,  and  he  has  been 
trying  to  get  Russia  to  cross  the  frontier.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

*  January  28,  1897. — I  received  yourletter  as  I  was  leaving 
London.  So  I  wrote  very  hurriedly.  Before  the  receipt  of 
your  letter  I  had  wTitten  to  the  Daily  Chronicle,  and  my  letter 
has  appeared  to-day.  I  think  it  is  more  in  accord  with  your 
view  than  the  article  which  I  sent  you  on  Sunday.  I  have 
on  purpose  put  as  much  meaning  into  Lord  Salisbury's 
despatches  as  they  can  possibly  bear.  I  have  tried  to 
show  that  he  is  on  your  side,  not  on  Lord  Rosebery's.  And 
I  think  he  is.  Certainly  he  has  not  committed  himself, 
as  Lord  Rosebery  has  done,  against  solitary  action.  He 
reserved  it  expHcitly  in  his  Mansion  House  speech,  though 


ARMENIA  191 

it  does  not  show  in  his  despatches.  If  he  stands  firm  on 
his  despatches,  I  believe  that  he  will  win.  I  believe  that 
France  is  now  the  obstacle.  It  is  a  question  of  finance 
with  her.  She  has  a  hundred  millions  sterling  in  Turkish 
speculations,  and  she  will  agree  to  nothing  which  will  not 
secure  her  against  loss.  She  has  told  Russia  that  there 
might  be  a  financial  crisis  in  Paris  which  might  imperil 
the  Dual  Alliance.' 


MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  March  11,  1897. — I  would  not  trespass  on  your  Lord- 
ship's valuable  time  did  not  I  believe  that  the  communication 
which  I  am  about  to  make  is  of  some  importance.  I  have 
known  the  King  of  Greece  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and 
have  occasionally  corresponded  \vith  him  during  this  crisis. 
Last  night  I  received  a  letter  from  him  in  reply  to  one  from 
me  counselling  prudence.  His  letter  is  marked  Confidential 
and  is  evidently  intended  for  my  eyes  alone.  For  that  reason 
he  probably  shows  his  mind  more  fully  than  he  would  be 
likely  to  do  in  any  official  communication,  or  in  any  letter 
likely  to  be  read  by  anybody  but  myself.  He  does  not 
know  that  I  have  any  acquaintance  with  your  Lordship  or 
with  any  members  of  the  Government. 

'  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  show  your  Lordship  his 
Majesty's  letter,  or  reveal  its  contents,  but  I  think  I  may 
tell  you  in  confidence  two  or  three  points  which  evidently 
weigh  very  heavily  on  the  King's  mind. 

'  (1)  He  feels  certain  that  the  withdrawal  of  the  Greek 
troops  would  lead  to  anarchy  and  carnage  in  the  interior 
of  Crete  ,  .  .  and  would  induce  the  Mussulman  natives 
and  Bashi-Bazouks  to  provoke  the  insurgents  into  con- 
fiict  which  would  make  the  ultimate  settlement  of  the 
island  under  an  autonomous  Government  most  difficult,  and 
which  would  meanwhile  require  a  foreign  army  of  occupa- 
tion to  restore  order.  Moreover,  it  is  evidently  the  King's 
conviction  that  the  Greek  troops  in  Crete  would  refuse 
to  leave,  though  their  officers  might  obey  the  King's 
summons. 


192  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  (2)  I  ventured  to  suggest  in  my  last  letter  that  a  pU- 
hiscite  now  would  be  far  from  decision  in  favour  of  Greece — 
I  mean  of  annexation  to  Greece.  The  King  assures  me  that 
I  am  in  error.  He  says  that  the  Mussulmans  of  Crete  would 
much  prefer  annexation  to  Greece  to  autonomy,  if  that 
alternative  is  offered  them.  In  Crete  they  are  in  a  minority, 
and  have  the  same  objection  to  autonomy  that  the  Protes- 
tants of  Ulster  have  to  Home  Rule — fear  of  oppression  by 
the  majority,  now  in  a  state  of  exasperation  against  the 
Mussulmans.  They  beheve,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Greece 
would  see  justice  done  to  them.  And  they  are  encouraged 
in  this  belief  by  messages  from  the  Mussulmans  in  Thessaly 
strongly  advising  annexation  to  Greece  as  the  true  policy 
for  the  Cretan  Mussulman.  Probably  the  Mussulmans  of 
Thessaly  would  like  a  considerable  increase  in  the  Mussulman 
element  in  the  kingdom,  as  adding  to  their  own  importance. 

'  My  belief  is  that  the  King  would  use  all  his  influence  in 
favour  of  a  pacific  compromise.  Suppose  the  Powers  were 
to  take  over  the  Greek  troops,  place  them  under  the  supreme 
command  of  an  officer  from  one  of  the  Powers,  and  use  them 
for  police  purposes  during  the  period  of  transition.  This 
would  give  confidence  to  Christians  and  Mussulmans  alike  : 
to  the  Christians  because  they  would  see  that  they  were 
not  to  be  delivered  over  to  the  Turks  ;  to  the  Mussulmans 
because  the  Greeks  would  be  under  the  control  and  order  of 
the  Powers  and  co-operating  with  the  foreign  troops.  The 
first  consideration  surely  is  to  restore  confidence  on  both 
sides.  If  to  this  were  added  either  an  offer  to  Prince  George, 
or  one  of  the  Danube  Princes,  of  the  Governorship  of 
the  island  during  the  autonomous  regime ;  or  permission 
to  the  Cretans  to  elect  their  own  Prince,  as  in  Bulgaria  ; 
I  beheve  the  whole  question  would  be  settled  peacefully. 
I  doubt  whether  anything  short  of  that  will  settle  it.  Beyond 
a  certain  point  the  King  is  not  his  own  master.  There  will 
be  a  revolution  in  Greece  if  the  Powers  insist  on  their  pound 
of  flesh,  and  the  Balkans  will  be  in  a  blaze. 

'  As  to  public  feeling  at  home,  my  own  strong  conviction 
is  that  it  contains  the  elements  of  an  agitation  fiercer  and 
more  widespread  than  the  Bulgarian  agitation.    A  manifesto 


ARMENIA  193 

or  a  speech  from  ]\Ir.  Gladstone  against  the  coercion  of 
Greece  would  set  the  heather  on  fire  ;  and  I  am  not  sure 
that  he  will  not  do  something  of  the  kind  if  extreme  measures 
are  taken  against  Greece.  For  he  feels  acutely  on  the 
subject.  And  believe  me,  if  the  Opposition  leaders  see  their 
chance  of  damaging  the  Government,  they  will  not  hesitate. 
Their  present  moderation  will  then  serve  them  in  good 
stead.  Personally  I  have  used  whatever  influence  I  may 
possess  in  favour  of  moderation.  I  have  refused  all  invita- 
tions to  public  meetings  and  kept  the  Grosvenor  Committee 
so  far  out  of  the  agitation.  But  I  know  from  the  communica- 
tions which  reach  me  from  all  parts  of  the  country  that  the 
popular  mind  is  deeply  stirred  and  will  explode  if  coercive 
action  is  taken  against  Greece  after  the  inaction  of  the 
Powers  in  presence  of  the  Sultan's  massacres.  I  know, 
of  course,  that  your  Lordship  is  working  hard  in  the 
interests  of  both  Crete  and  Greece  ;  but  the  multitude 
are  slow  to  make  nice  distinctions,  and  ^\'hat  they  will 
see  is  the  practically  free  hand  given  to  the  Sultan  in 
all  his  massacres,  as  contrasted  with  the  coercion  and  ruin 
of  Greece  for  going  to  the  help  of  the  Christians  of  Crete, 
when  threatened  with  similar  massacres.  No  amount  of 
explanations  will  expel  from  the  minds  of  the  masses  the 
conviction  that  the  British  Government  has  once  more  taken 
the  part  of  the  Turks  against  the  Christians.  In  this  matter 
it  is  of  the  last  importance  that  the  Government  should  not 
only  be  right,  but  should  appear  right.  When  the  public 
mind  is  profoundly  moved  on  a  question  that  appeals  to  its 
moral  sense  and  chivalry,  parliamentary  majorities  are 
generally  a  false  index.  In  1876-80  the  normal  majority 
of  the  Government  was  about  60.  Its  majorities  on  the 
Bulgarian  Question  ranged  from  90  to  134.  Yet  the  country 
was  all  the  while  with  IVIr.  Gladstone.  London  Society  is 
always  wrong  on  such  a  question  as  this.  I  apologize  for 
troubling  your  Lordship  when  your  time  is  so  precious.  My 
excuse  is  that  I  am  doing  it  with  the  sincere  desire  to  serve 
the  Government  generally  and  your  Lordship  in  particular. 
I  have  always  regarded  you  as  the  statesman  whom  I  should 
like  to  follow  when  Mr.  Gladstone  was  out  of  the  arena. 


194  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

I  believe  that  you  have  now  an  opportunity  which  seldom 
falls  to  the  lot  of  statesmen  ;  an  opportunity  of  preserving 
peace  and  at  the  same  time  pacifying  Greece  and  Crete,  and 
also  of  establishing  a  great  name  in  history,  although  the 
last  consideration  is  probably  one  which  does  not  influence 
you  at  all,  I  have  done  my  very  best  to  serve  you — poor 
as  that  best  may  have  been — and  alienated  friends  in  doing 
it.  May  I  venture  without  presumption  to  say  that  your 
Lordship  seems  to  me  to  underrate  your  own  influence  in 
the  Concert  ?  You  are  the  dominant  influence.  The 
Pow'ers,  like  the  Sultan,  have  accepted  your  proposal 
of  an  autonomy  only  in  principle,  and  it  surely  would 
be  consistent  with  your  conditions  that  coercion  should 
not  be  applied  to  Greece  till,  at  least,  the  outline  of 
the  scheme  has  been  agreed  upon.  If,  in  the  meanwhile, 
an  arrangement  can  be  made  to  utilize  the  Greek  troops 
as  forces  employed  by  the  Powers  to  help  to  keep  order 
during  the  period  of  interregnum,  the  crisis  will,  I  believe, 
be  at  an  end.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  I  fear  greatly  that 
the  too  probable  alternative  will  be  war.  And  if  war  broke 
out  while  our  forces  are  engaged,  in  alliance  with  the  three 
Powers,  against  Greece,  will  it  not  be  very  difficult  to  avoid 
being  drawn  into  it  ? 

'  God  forbid  that  w^e  should  have  a  repetition  of  the 
experience  of  the  Crimean  War — drifting  into  the  vortex 
through  the  very  means  adopted  to  avoid  it.  The 
Greek  King  is  very  despondent  and  evidently  fears  the 
worst.  .   .   . 

'  I  shall  not  write  to  the  King  till  to-morrow  evening. 
If  your  Lordship  would  like  to  make  any  communication 
to  him  privately,  I  am  of  course  at  your  service.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  March  18,  1897. — Mr.  Murray  has  kindly  sent  me  an 
early  copy  of  your  rousing  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Westminster, 
which  I  have  just  read  with  the  greatest  interest  and 
admiration.^      God   grant    it    may    arrest    the    dow^nward 

*  The  Eastern  Crisis  ;  A  I^ttter  to  the.  Duke  of  Westminster,  K.O. 


ARMENIA  195 

course  of  the  Government.  Salisbury  has  tried  (1)  to  get 
the  Powers  to  agree  to  the  annexation  of  Crete  to  Greece  ; 

(2)  to  utilize  the  Greek  troops   under  foreign  command  ; 

(3)  to  expel  Turkish  troops  from  Crete  if  the  Greeks  are  to 
be  expelled.  My  belief  is  that  he  would  have  forced  the 
Powers  to  adopt  his  pohcy  if  he  had  stood  firm.  But,  angry 
as  I  am  with  him,  I  hold  that  the  man  who  has  done  the 
mischief  is  Rosebery.  Your  Liverpool  speech  united  Liberals 
and  Tories  in  favour  of  your  policy.  Then  came  the  Edin- 
burgh speech  to  smash  that  union  and  divide  the  Liberal 
party.  Ever  since  then  the  Daily  Neivs,  Westminster 
Gazette,  and  Speaker  have  preached  the  duty  of  acting  with 
the  Concert  with  all  the  zeal  of  renegades.  They  are  now 
preaching  the  coercion  of  Greece.  Lord  Salisbury  is  a  timid 
man  and  has  shrunk  from  enforcing  a  pohcy  against  the 
majority  of  his  Cabinet  and  the  inertia  of  his  party,  when  he 
receives  no  assurance  of  support  from  the  Liberal  party, 
while  their  reputed  organs  in  the  Press  are  hounding  him 
on  to  act  with  the  Concert  at  any  cost.  Doubtless  Rose- 
bery inspires  those  papers.  His  amour  propre  is  engaged 
in  proving  the  soundness  of  his  oAvn  policy,  namely,  that 
nothing  can  be  done  apart  from  the  Concert,  and  that  a  great 
war  would  ensue  if  England  left  it.  I  am  afraid  that  he 
would  rather  that  Crete  should  remain  enslaved  than  prove 
himself  a  false  prophet. 

'  I  have  been  writing  in  my  humble  way  on  the  subject, 
and  am  glad  to  find  myself  in  agreement  Avith  your  line 
of  argument.  I  enclose  an  article  which  I  wrote  for  last 
Sunday's  Observer,  which  is  a  useful  paper,  because  people 
read  it  on  Sunday  without  the  distraction  of  other  papers. 
I  have  also  written  an  article  for  the  next  Fortnightly 
Bevieiv.  I  have  said  a  good  word  for  Salisbury  in  the 
Observer  article,  because  I  knew  that  he  was  then  pressing 
the  Powers  to  employ  the  Greek  troops  to  restore  order  in 
the  interior  of  Crete.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 
'  [Athens],  April  6,  1897.— I  have  seen  the  King  several 
times  since  I  have  been  here,  and  have  had  long  conversations 

o  2 


196  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

•with  him.  He  has  l^egged  me  to  send  his  warmest  thanks  for 
your  great  service  to  Greece  and  Crete  by  your  splendid 
letter  to  the  Duke  of  Westminster.  The  Powers  have  so 
mismanaged  matters  that  they  have  now  forced  the  King  to 
the  alternative  of  war  or  revolution.  He  cannot  draw  back 
now,  he  says,  except  on  one  of  two  conditions  :  (1)  Crete 
must  be  united  with  Greece;  or  (2)  he  must  administer  it  after 
the  manner  of  Austria  in  Bosnia.  If  the  Powers  were  really 
anxious  to  settle  matters  honourably  all  round,  they  could 
save  their  own  amour  p-opre  by  encouraging  direct  negotia- 
tions between  the  Porte  and  Greece.  The  Sultan  made 
overtures  to  that  effect  some  three  weeks  ago,  and  Greece 
responded  in  a  friendly  way.  But  Russia  stopped  the 
negotiations.  The  King  says  that  experience  has  proved 
absolutely  that  it  is  impossible  to  govern  Greece  without 
Crete.  He  is  indignant  at  the  accusation  that  he  has  been 
getting  up  an  agitation  in  Crete  for  the  sake  of  having  a 
plausible  excuse  for  intervening,  the  fact  being  that  he  has 
been  for  a  year  urging  the  Powers  to  force  the  Sultan  to 
fulfil  his  promises  towards  the  Cretans.  The  agitation  was 
caused  by  the  crowds  of  Cretan  refugees  whom  the  Powers 
landed  or  caused  to  be  landed  in  Greece.  Some  of  these  had 
been  mutilated  by  the  Turks.  Among  other  horrors  the  King 
told  me  that  he  had  seen  some  young  children  whose  parents 
had  been  murdered  before  their  eyes.  The  Turks  seized 
the  parents,  laid  them  on  a  table  and  cut  their  heads  off, 
the  blood  spurting  on  the  clothes  of  the  children.  The  King 
saw  the  stains,  and  had  the  story  from  the  poor  children 
themselves.  There  was  a  group  of  children  whose  parents 
were  murdered  like  that — some  half-dozen  couples  of 
parents.  Some  of  these  atrocities  were  perpetrated  on  the 
King's  subjects,  of  whom  there  are  thirty  thousand  in 
Crete. 

'  The  King  believes  that  the  Cretans  would  not  have 
accepted  autonomy  in  any  case  ;  but,  even  if  there  had  been 
any  chance  of  their  doing  so,  the  Powers  have  destroyed 
that  chance  by  their  cruel  treatment  of  the  insurgents  and 
their  open  and  even  ostentatious  alliance  with  the  Turks. 
The  Admirals  exercise  a  strict  censorship,  and  I  am  afraid 


4 


ARMENIA  197 

the  British  pubhc  does  not  know  a  tithe  of  the  brutahties 
that  are  being  perpetrated  on  the  Cretans.  Some  of  the 
non-combatants  in  the  interior,  the  King  told  me,  have  been 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  feeding  on  roots  and  grasses. 
Boats  are  seized,  and  in  some  cases  smashed,  for  trying  to 
carry  provisions  from  one  part  of  the  island  to  the  other. 
And  some  peasants'  boats  have  been  destroyed  to  prevent 
their  fishing.  I  enclose  a  cutting  from  last  Sunday's  Astij, 
of  Athens,  which  will  show  you  the  kind  of  devilry  that  is 
being  done  under  the  British  flag.  The  British  ships  are 
distinguishing  themselves  beyond  others  in  this  work. 
If  you  should  see  your  way  to  do  anything  in  the  matter, 
please  don't  mention  my  name,  as  my  conversations  with  the 
King  have  been  private.  He  does  not  object  to  the  facts 
themselves  being  known.   .    .   . 

'  The  Powers  appear  to  be  hesitating  to  blockade  Greece. 
And  they  may  indeed  Avell  hesitate.  For  the  King  assured 
me  that  within  an  hour  of  hearing  of  the  blockade  of  Greece, 
he  would  order  his  army  to  cross  the  frontier.  And  then  ? 
My  own  belief  is  that  there  will  in  that  case  be  a  general  rising 
of  the  Greek  race,  of  whom  there  arc  more  than  six  millions 
in  the  Turkish  Empire.  Greek  volunteers  are  every  day 
streaming  into  Athens  from  all  parts  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 
Last  Wednesday  700  arrived  from  different  Greek  islands  ; 
on  Thursday  500  from  the  Caucasus  ;  on  Friday  300  from 
Rumelia  ;  on  Saturday  a  contingent  from  Macedonia  ; 
on  Sunday  100,  and  yesterday  200,  from  Cyprus.  And  they 
all  come  at  their  oAvn  cost.  The  enthusiasm  is  extraordinary. 
The  Assassin  has  denuded  the  rest  of  his  Empire  of  troops 
in  order  to  meet  Greece  and  watch  the  Balkan  States.  A 
rising  in  the  Greek  islands,  aided  by  the  Greek  fleet,  Avould 
probably  succeed,  and  even  Smyrna  might  be  wrested  from 
the  Sultan.  If  Greece  could  only  open  the  campaign  with  a 
success,  the  whole  Turkish  Empire  might  collapse  ;  for  there 
would  probably  be  insurrections  not  only  in  the  Greek 
islands,  but  in  Macedonia,  Arabia,  and  Syria.  And  for  all 
that  the  Powers  will  be  responsible.  I  believe  that  Chamber- 
lain is  largely  responsible  for  Lord  Salisbury's  policy  in 
Crete.     He  is    evidently  preparing  for  a  casus  belli  in  the 


198  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Transvaal,  and  is  probably  urging  Salisbury  to  keep  in 
with  the  Concert,  and  especially  with  Germany,  in  view  of 
a  war  with  the  Transvaal.' 


MacColl   to  Salisbury 

'  May  12,  1897. — There  are  two  or  three  facts  which  your 
Lordship  may  not  know,  but  which  I  think  you  ought  to  know 
before  the  conditions  of  peace  between  Greece  and  Turkey 
are  settled.  During  my  visit  to  Greece  I  received  information 
which  I  consider  of  great  importance,  and  which  I  intend  to 
use  as  far  as  I  am  permitted  to  do  so,  without  indicating  the 
sources  of  my  information,  in  an  article  in  the  forthcoming 
Fortnightly  Review.  I  had  a  long  conversation  with  the  King 
and  Crown  Princess,  and  Mr.  Dimitroff,  the  Bulgarian  Agent 
in  Athens,  whom  your  Lordship  knows  is  a  very  able  man, 
and  singularly  well-informed  on  the  Eastern  Question. 
But  my  information  is  not  derived  from  the  above.  The 
Armenian  Minister  in  Athens  gave  me  a  good  deal  of  informa- 
tion on  condition  that  I  would  not  mention  his  name.  The 
fact  of  his  being  an  Armenian,  and  therefore  not  mixed  up 
in  the  Eastern  Question,  opened  sources  of  information  to 
him  which  are  generally  closed  to  European  diplomatists. 
I  need  not  add  that  I  had  conversations  with  Greeks  of  all 
sorts,  official  and  non-official ;  and  I  got  also  some  valuable 
information  from  the  late  Turkish  Minister  in  Athens,  a 
man  of  moderate  views  and  far  from  unfriendly  to  Greece. 
I  believe  your  Lordship  may  rely  on  the  accuracy  of  the 
following.  Dimitroff  was  sent  to  Athens  to  bring  about 
an  understanding  between  Greece  and  Bulgaria,  in  which  it 
was  hoped  that  Servia  would  eventually  be  included.  The 
proposal  made  by  the  Bulgarian  Government  to  the  Greek 
was  that  they  should  combine  to  draw  up  a  scheme  of 
reforms  for  Macedonia  and  other  parts  of  European  Turkey, 
chiefly  inhabited  by  Christians  ;  that  they  should  then 
endeavour  to  get  the  sanction  of  the  Great  Powers  for  this 
scheme,  and  afterwards  present  it  to  the  Sultan.  Greece 
declined  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  useless.  Probably 
the  Powers  ^^'ould  not  accept  it  ;    and  whether  they  did  or 


ARMENIA  199 

not,  the  Sultan  would  reject  it.  It  would  therefore  be 
useless.  Bulgaria  answered  :  "  We  quite  agree  that  it  would 
be  useless  for  the  ostensible  purpose.  But  the  real  purpose 
of  Bulgaria  is  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  Greece, 
to  work  together  for  the  liberation  of  the  Christians  of 
European  Turkey,  postponing  for  the  present  our  rival 
claims  ;  but  appearing  before  the  world  as  the  two  Powers 
most  interested  in  the  question,  and  thus  gradually  shutting 
out  the  intervention  of  Russia  and  Austria,  whose  aims  are 
fatal  alike  to  the  development  of  Greece  and  of  Bulgaria. 
Servia  would  gradually  see  that  it  was  her  interest  to  join  us. 
She  has  nothing  to  gain,  and  much  to  fear,  Hke  the  rest  of  us, 
from  Austria  and  Russia."  But  Greece  would  not  agree  to 
the  proposal ;  very  unwisely  as  I  think.  Had  she  agreed, 
Bulgaria  could  and  would  have  managed  to  prevent  the 
Sultan  from  declaring  war  on  Greece.  She  could,  on  short 
notice,  have  put  120,000  excellent  troops  thoroughly  equipped 
in  the  field,  with  a  strong  hne  of  reserves  behind  them. 
Without  giving  legitimate  ground  of  complaint,  Bulgaria 
could  thus  have  made  such  a  demonstration  on  the  frontier  of 
Macedonia  as  would  have  prevented  the  Sultan  from  massing 
an  army  on  the  frontier  of  Thessaly  ;  the  more  so,  as  the 
Sultan  was  anxious  to  find  a  plausible  excuse  for  not  going 
to  war.  From  the  moment  it  was  announced  that  Crete 
was  to  have  an  autonomy  that  would  abolish  his  authority, 
he  was  anxious  to  come  to  terms  with  Greece,  and  made 
overtures  on  the  subject,  which  Greece  received  amicably. 
But  Russia  stopped  the  negotiations.  I  believe  the  Sultan 
would  have  come  to  terms  with  Greece  on  one  of  two 
conditions  :  (1)  The  sale  of  the  island  outright,  a  number  of 
wealthy  Greeks  abroad  being  willing  to  find  the  money  ;  or 
(2)  allowing  King  George  to  administer  the  island  under  his 
sovereignty  and  on  payment  of  a  tribute.  Greece  would 
have  agreed  to  either  condition  if  the  negotiations  had  been 
allowed  to  proceed.  Your  Lordship  may  depend  upon  it  that, 
if  it  really  comes  to  an  effective  autonomy  for  Crete,  both 
the  Sultan  and  the  Cretan  Mussulmans  will  much  prefer 
annexation  to  Greece  in  either  of  the  ways  which  I  have 
named,  for  it  will  be  much  better  for  both  of  them.     Russia 


200  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

sounded  King  George,  before  the  Greek  troops  went  to  Crete, 
as  to  whether  he  would  agree  to  let  Russia  have  Suda  Bay  in 
return  for  being  allowed  to  annex  Crete  to  Greece.  The  King 
refused.  .  .  .  My  belief  is  that  the  promised  autonomy  will  be 
a  stepping-stone  to  the  annexation  of  the  island  by  one  of  the 
Great  Powers  other  than  England.  A  pretext  will  be  found 
in  the  need  of  foreign  occupation  when  the  Turkish  troops 
are  withdrawn  ;  but  the  occupation  will  be  as  permanent  as 
that  of  Austria  in  Bosnia.  If  Russia  be  allowed  to  occupy 
it,  it  will  be  on  the  understanding  that  the  other  Powers 
shall  have  compensation  elsewhere  ;  France,  in  combined 
action  against  us  by  Russia  and  Germany  and  possibly 
Austria,  in  Egypt ;  Germany,  in  obtaining  a  combined  veto 
on  British  aggression  in  the  Transvaal ;  Austria,  in  getting 
a  free  hand  to  Salonica.  But  however  the  parts  may  be 
distributed,  I  have  good  reason  for  believing  that  such 
a  scheme  has  been  broached.  As  a  member  of  the  Concert, 
England  labours  under  this  serious  disadvantage,  that  she 
has  no  separate  agreement  with  any  of  her  colleagues, 
while  they  have  all  separate  agreements  among  themselves. 
Your  Lordship  is  thus  working  with  a  band  of  conspirators, 
and  will,  I  fear,  share  the  same  fate  which  an  honest 
man  meets  in  such  company.  It  is,  I  hope,  not  too  late 
to  defeat  this  conspiracy.  It  may  be  too  late  very  soon. 
Bulgaria  is  most  anxious  that  England  should  help 
Greece  and  Bulgaria  to  a  mutual  friendly  understanding. 
Bulgaria  is  willing  to  recede,  in  the  interest  of  Greece, 
from  the  frontier  of  the  San  Stefano  Treaty  ;  and  she  is 
willing  to  make  concessions  to  Servia.  She  would  gladly 
see  Greece  in  possession  of  Crete  at  once,  and  also  of  the 
frontier  promised  to  Greece  by  the  Berlin  Congress.  And 
eventually  she  would  willingly  see  Greece  in  possession  of 
Salonica  and  of  a  fair  share  of  Macedonia.  But  Bulgaria 
will  insist — very  justly  I  think — on  an  outlet  to  the  .^gean. 
That  is  the  point  of  difference  at  present.  Greece  claims 
an  unbroken  littoral  in  that  direction.  If  Greece  will  agree 
to  the  terms  of  Bulgaria,  then  Bulgaria  will  be  only  too 
glad  to  make  an  alliance  Avith  Greece,  which  would  be  greatly 
to   their   mutual   advantage   commercially   and   otherwise. 


ARMENIA  201 

Such  an  agreement,  too,  would   open   out   most  valuable 
markets  for  British  trade.     On  the  other  hand,  Germany  and 
Austria  are  determined  to  monopohze  the  trade  of  Bulgaria, 
Servia,  and  Roumania,  Russia  being  taken  into  partner- 
ship ;   an  arrangement  fatal  to  British  trade  in  the  Levant. 
Germany  and  Russia  will  now,  I  suppose,  hypocritically  play 
the  part  of  false  friends  to  Greece.     When  I  was  in  Athens 
they  were  representing  England  as  the  real  enemy  of  Greece, 
and  aiming  at  the  annexation  of  Crete.     The  King  asked 
me  if  I  thought  there  was  any  truth  in  it.     It  would  not 
surprise  me  to  find  a  crowd  of  German  officers  presently 
arriving  at  Athens  to  reorganize  the  Greek  Army,  which 
supplies  the  raw  material  of  a  splendid  force.     If  the  Balkan 
States  and  Greece  once  make  up  their  minds  that  England 
has  thrown  them  over,  they  will  be  forced  to  come  to  terms 
with  the  Northern  Powers,  whose  aim  is  to  foster  their 
mutual  jealousies  to  prevent   their   combining,    and   thus 
make    them  severely  dependent   on  their  big  neighbours. 
Stambouloff  formed  the  audacious  project  of  a  union  with 
Roumania,  and  sent  a  secret  agent  to  King  Charles  with  that 
offer.    The  two  States  Avere  to  come  to  a  secret  understanding, 
unite  themselves  when  their  plans  were  complete,  under  the 
Roumanian  Crown,  thus  forming  a  powerful  Kingdom,  which 
could  put  500,000  fine  troops  into  the  field  ;  then  on  the  first 
favourable  opportunity  they  were  to  seize  Constantinople 
and    make   it   the   capital    of    the    New    Kingdom.     King 
Charles  jumped  at  the  idea,  and  eagerly  accepted  the  offer, 
but    said    that    he   must    consult    Russia.     He    did,    and 
Russia   put  her    veto   on    the   scheme.     The  great  desire 
of  the  three  autocrats  now  is  to  sow  distrust  among  the 
various   nationalities  and  prevent   their   combination.     Is 
it  not  the  interest  of  England  to  defeat  tlie  policy  of  the 
Emperors   and   make   friends    of   the    Balkan   States   and 
Greece  ?     If  they  are  enclosed  within  the  circle  of  hostile 
treaties  by  which  the  Northern  Powers  intend  to  exclude 
our  trade,  as  they  have  already  excluded  it  largely,  the  loss 
will  damage  us  more  seriously  than  anything  that  may 
happen  in  the  Transvaal.     In  settling  the  terms  of  peace 
between  Turkey  and  Greece  your  Lordship  will  have  an 


202  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

opportunity  of  showing  Greece  and  the  Balkan  States  that 
England  is,  after  all,  their  best  friend,  and,  by  means  of 
private  diplomacy,  Greece  and  Bulgaria,  and  afterwards 
Servia,  may  be  brought  together  to  their  great  benefit  and 
ours  as  well.  But  if  this  opportunity  is  let  slip,  it  A^ill 
probably  be  our  last  chance.  All  the  Great  Powers,  except 
Italy,  would  be  delighted  to  see  us  damaged,  and  our 
commercial  and  naval  supremacy  destroyed  ;  and  Italy 
is  bound  by  the  Triple  Alliance.  I  ask  your  Lordship's 
pardon  for  troubling  you  with  this  long  letter.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  May  22,  1897. — I  asked  Herbert  to  forward  to  you  in 
confidence  a  proof  of  an  article  by  me  on  Greece  in  the  next 
Fortnightly  Review.  I  told  j\Ii\  J.  Morley  the  substance  of  it 
privately,  for  I  have  not  put  my  name  to  it.  My  argument 
is  based  on  authentic  facts  which  I  obtained  from  unques- 
tionable sources,  not  all  Greek,  w  hile  I  was  in  Athens.  I  will 
tell  you  them  in  strictest  confidence.  They  are  the  King  of 
Greece,  the  Crown  Princess  (sister  to  the  German  Emperor), 
and  the  Bulgarian  Agent  at  Athens,  a  singularly  able  man, 
and  very  much  behind  the  scenes.  There  was  another,  an 
important  diplomatist,  whose  name  I  will  give  you  when 
I  see  you. 

'  I  observe  that  the  Constantinople  correspondent  of 
yesterday's  Speaker — Dr.  Washburn,  the  head  of  Roberts 
College,  who  has  private  sources  of  information  through 
former  pupils  now^  in  official  life — has  also  an  inkling  of  the 
Imperial  plot  to  crush  Greece.  And  our  Government,  and 
France  and  Italy,  have  lent  themselves  to  it  ! 

'  I  now  enclose  a  copy  of  an  article  by  me  in  to-day's 
London  Observer.  What  are  the  Liberal  leaders  about, 
remaining  dumb  till  the  mischief  has  been  done  by  the 
imposition  of  conditions  of  peace  on  Greece  which  will 
destroy  her  independence  ?  Better  a  hundred  times  the 
cession  of  Thessaly  to  Turkey  for  the  present  than  a  war 
indemnity  which  would  place  Greece  as  completely  under 


ARMP:N1A  203 

the  control  of  one  of  the  Great  Powers  as  Egypt  is  under 
ours.     But  there  is  no  case  for  a  war  indemnity. 

'  Rosebery's  fanatical  glorification,  in  his  Edinburgh 
speech,  of  the  Concert,  and  his  denunciation  of  your  policy, 
have  much  to  answer  for.  He  is  even  now  backing  up  Lord 
Salisbury's  policy,  both  privately  and  through  the  Daily 
News,  Westminster  Gazette,  and  Speaker. 

'  The  people  are  dumb  because  there  is  no  one  to 
enlighten  them  or  give  voice  to  their  indignation.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  May  26,  1897. — Thank  you  for  your  postcard.  For  at 
least  the  last  six  years  there  has  been  a  staff  of  German 
officers  at  Constantinople  engaged  in  organizing  the  Turkish 
army.  Their  chief.  General  Goltz,  is  one  of  the  ablest 
generals  in  the  German  army.  When  war  broke  out  he  went 
with  his  staff  to  join  the  Turkish  headquarters,  and  he  and 
a  Turkish  general  Avere  the  first  officers  of  the  Sultan's  army 
to  enter  Larissa.  So  far,  what  I  have  stated  is  a  matter  of 
notoriety. 

'  1.  It  is  undisputed  that  German  officers  have  been 
organizing  the  Turkish  army  for  years ;  and  all  the 
newspaper  correspondents  have  stated  that  Goltz  and  his 
German  officers  have  been  at  the  Turkish  headquarters 
all  through  the  fighting. 

'  2.  A  German  officer  at  the  Turkish  headquarters 
published  a  letter  in  a  German  paper,  in  A\hich  he  said 
that  Edhem  Pasha's  staff  was  so  thoroughly  German  that 
German  was  the  language  spoken  at  headquarters,  and  that 
the  Germans  managed  everything.  That  letter  was  quoted 
by  the  Daily  News  and  Daily  Chronicle. 

'3.  Hanotaux,  the  French  Foreign  Minister,  declared 
last  Saturday  "Turkey  had  soldiers  of  tried  valour,  but  no 
officers  and  no  cohesion.  These  Germany  has  given  her, 
and  among  the  officers  Edliem  Pasha  "  {Times,  May  24). 
(See  letter  from  Paris  Correspondent  giving  a  report  of 
Hanotaux's  speech). 


204  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  4.  The  King  of  Greece  told  me  that  some  of  the  German 
officers  were  seen  by  his  son's  staff  commanding  Turkish 
batteries  and  wearing  the  German  military  cap  instead  of  the 
Turkish  fez  ;  so  little  pains  did  they  take  to  conceal  their 
presence. 

'  5.  The  Duchess  of  Sparta,  the  German  Emperor's 
sister,  told  me  that  the  strategy  of  the  Turkish  army  was 
conducted  by  German  officers,  who  reported  to  the  Emperor, 
inter  alia,  the  great  superiority  of  the  Greek  artillery  over 
the  Turkish. 

'  Ought  not  this  gross  violation  of  neutrality  to  be  taken 
into  consideration  in  settling  the  terms  of  peace  ?  What 
are  the  Liberal  leaders  about  ?  ' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  May  26,  1897.— You  have  always  been  very  forbearing 
to  me  when  I  have  taken  liberties  with  you  in  presuming 
to  express  my  opinion  on  subjects  which  He  outside  my  own 
sphere  of  duty.  I  am  going  to  take  one  more  liberty.  I  feel 
oppressed  with  a  presentiment  of  coming  calamity  which 
cannot  I  shake  off.  But  I  will  trouble  your  Lordship  with 
only  two  facts.  The  Constantinople  correspondent  of  the 
Speaker  is  Dr.  Washburn,  the  head  of  Roberts  College.  As 
an  American  he  does  not  trouble  himself  about  our  Party 
politics  ;  but  he  takes  keen  interest  in  the  Eastern  Question, 
and  is  wonderfully  well  informed  on  it  from  his  confidential 
correspondence  with  men  in  official  positions  in  Bulgaria, 
Greece,  Roumania,  and  Turkey,  including  even  the  Yildiz 
Kiosk,  who  have  passed  through  his  hands.  In  his  last 
letter  he  says  that  there  has  been  a  conspiracy  among  the 
Emperors  to  crush  Greece.  That  is  also  the  impression 
which  I  gathered  in  Greece,  and  I  wrote  an  article,  partly 
dealing  with  that  aspect  of  the  question,  for  the  next 
Fortnightly  Review.  At  the  last  moment  I  have  been 
asked  to  withdraw  it  in  favour  of  an  article  "  from  an 
authority  behind  the  scenes,"  who  backs  up  Dr.  Washburn's 
view,  taking  my  points  and  "  adding  to  them  from  authentic 
sources."  .  .  . 


ARMENIA  205 

'  The  editor  has  asked  leave  to  incorporate  one  or  tA\  o 
of  my  statements  in  this  article.  I  have  agreed  on  condition 
that  he  is  careful  to  do  justice  to  your  Lordship,  which  he 
has  readily  agreed  to  do.  I  think  there  must  be  truth 
in  what  comes  so  confidently  from  several  independent 
sources.  I  know,  for  I  have  seen  the  evidence  in  black  and 
white,  that  at  least  one  Great  Power  would  have  helped 
Greece  to  the  possession  of  Crete  in  return  for  Suda 
Bay.  My  hope  now  is  that  the  robbers  will  cjuarrel  among 
themselves.  The  honest  men  may  perhaps  come  by  their 
o^vn.  But  that  the  Tsar  and  Kaiser  will  now  join  in  avenging 
the  Sultan  is  surely  unlikely  ;  and  without  coercion  there  will 
be  nothing  to  show  for  the  diplomacy  of  the  Concert.  My 
dream  was  to  see  your  Lordship  at  the  head  of  a  great  Party 
for  the  rest  of  your  life.  The  Concert  has  shattered  my 
dream  ;  for  it  has  ruined  your  Lordship's  diplomacy.  I  am 
more  sorry  than  I  can  tell.  The  author  of  the  Armenian 
massacres  and  of  the  troubles  in  Crete  will  be  victorious 
along  the  whole  line  if  he  is  allowed  to  get  an  indemnity 
.   .   .  from  Greece.' 

MacColl  to  Gladstone 

'  June  12,  1897. — I  enclose  a  copy  of  an  article  of  mine 
in  this  month's  Fortnightly  Review  and  also  two  cuttings 
from  yesterday's  Times,  w^hich  seem  to  bear  out  my  view 
of  the  situation,  especially  in  regard  to  Germany.  My 
conclusions  are  based  a  good  deal  on  information  which 
I  cannot  make  public. 

'  I  have  let  down  Lord  Salisbury  more  easily  than 
my  feelings  would  prompt,  because  I  w^as  anxious  not 
to  exasperate  his  party,  some  of  whom  in  their  hearts  do 
not  approve  of  his  faint-heart edness.  But  I  must  add 
that  I  have  just  as  little  confidence  in  the  Liberal  leaders. 
What  have  they  done  to  educate  the  country  ?  Nothing. 
Tliey  have  given  the  Government  the  approval  of  their 
silence.  Nor  can  I  forget  that  Rosebery's  fanatical  eulogy 
on  the  Concert  and  his  fierce  denunciation  of  your  Liverpool 
speech  have  been  at  the  bottom  of  all  the  mischief.     And 


206  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

it  is  his  feeble  [)olicy  in  Armenia  that  Lord  Sahsbary  has 
followed.  I  am  afraid  we  shall  yet  have  to  pay  dearly 
for  our  base  pusillanimity  during  the  last  three  years.  If 
you  had  imitated  the  taciturn  poHcy  of  the  Liberal  leaders 
in  1876-1880  you  would  not  have  won  the  country.  But 
for  you,  Hartington  and  the  rest  would  have  done  nothing. 
I  am  utterly  disgusted.  The  authorship  of  my  article  is 
a  secret.'  i 


MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  July  23,  1897. — I  have  been  away  from  home  and  did 
not  see  the  Parliamentary  Papers  on  Turkey  till  to-day.  May 
I  venture  to  express  my  sincere  admiration  and  pleasure  at 
your  Lordship's  masterly  diplomacy  which  has  achieved  such 
a  splendid  success  ?  I  have  felt  all  along  that,  when  you  put 
forth  your  great  powers  and  your  complete  mastery  of  the 
subject,  you  would  bend  the  statesmen  and  Sovereigns  of  the 
Great  Powers  to  your  will,  and  would  be  seen  leading,  not 
following,  the  Concert  of  Europe  ;  and  I  have  expressed  that 
feeling  more  than  once  in  pubhc.  You  have  taken  "  separate 
action  "  in  the  sense  in  which  I  have  always  beUeved  that 
it  would  succeed,  namely,  by  declining  to  act  with  the 
Concert  any  longer  in  a  policy  of  paper-reforms  and  futile 
remonstrances  ;  and  by  proposing  a  policy  of  your  own  which 
will  ensure  success  so  far  as  success  is  possible  imder  such 
a  rotten  system  as  the  Turkish  Government.  M.  Hano- 
taux's  complaint  of  the   "  moderation  "  of  your  Guildhall 

1  In  this  article,  which  was  called  '  A  Plot  against  British  Interests  in  the 
Levant,'  and  was  signed  '  Vindex,'  MacColl  said  : 

'  As  for  the  Concert  itself,  I  have  never  expected  any  good  from  it,  and 
I  have  always  thought  it  a  great  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  late  Government  to 
revive  it  on  the  Armenian  Question.  It  is  an  admirable  instrument  when 
its  members  aim  at  the  same  thing.  When,  as  now,  the  majority  of  them 
are  using  it  in  pursuit  of  ends  injurious  alike  to  the  interests  of  Great  Britain 
and  to  those  of  the  emancipated,  as  well  as  the  still  enslaved,  populations 
of  Turkey,  the  sooner  we  leave  it  the  better.  Honesty  is  always  at  a 
serious  disadvantage  in  partnership  with  dishonesty,  and  experience,  so 
far,  seems  to  show  that  our  presence  in  this  Concert  serves  only  to  further 
ends  which  are  not  ours,  and  which  may  prove  disastrous  to  our  credit  and 
interests.' 


ARMENIA  207 

speech  is  funny,  when  one  remembers  that  his  own  speech 
in  the  French  Chamber  gave  great  satisfaction — as  in  my 
humble  opinion  it  was  calculated  to  do — to  the  Sultan,  The 
papers  do  not  seem  to  me  to  have  grasped  the  full  significance 
of  your  Lordship's  diplomatic  success.  I  have  therefore 
scribbled  an  article  for  to-morrow's  Observer  in  the  hope  of 
dotting  the  i's  more  plainly.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  August  27,  1897. — I  trust  that  I  am  not  taking  an  undue 
liberty  in  writing  to  express  my  thankfulness  at  the  report 
of  your  Lordship  having  proposed  the  raising  of  a  fund  for  the 
Greek  Indemnity  on  the  guarantee  of  England,  France,  and 
Russia,  and  the  consequent  control  of  as  much  Greek  revenue 
as  would  cover  the  Indemnity.  That  would  keep  Germany 
out  of  it.  Germany,  I  am  sure,  has  all  along  aimed  at  getting 
control  of  Greece,  and  general  European  control  would  mean 
German  control,  as  Germany  holds  more  Greek  bonds  than 
all  the  other  Powers  put  together.  Financial  control  of 
Greece  by  Germany  would  mean  the  practical  reduc- 
tion of  Greece  to  the  conditions  of  a  German  province. 
Once  let  Germany  have  a  footing  in  Greece,  and 
she  will  remain  there  as  we  remain  in  Egypt,  I  would 
rather  leave  the  Turks  in  Thessaly — hateful  as  that 
would  be — than  give  Germany  financial  control  of  Greece. 
That  would  be  better  for  Greece  in  the  end,  and  certainly 
better  for  the  political  and  commercial  interests  of  Great 
Britain.  I  believe  the  German  Emperor  wished  to 
drive  the  present  dynasty  out  of  Greece,  and  I  have  the 
authority  of  a  near  relation  of  his  own  for  that  opinion. 
The  destruction  of  the  monarchy,  followed  by  revolution, 
and  the  establishment  of  German  control  over  Greece, 
would  give  Germany  an  excuse  for  establishing  herself  in 
Greece  as  we  are  established  in  Egypt.  Russia  and  France 
can  hardly  wish  that,  though  Austria  might  not  mind.  Of 
course  she  goes  with  her  partners  in  the  Triple  Alliance.  ,  .  . 
It  would  be  a  great  gain  to  the  world — and  to  England  not 


208  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

least — it"  England  could  come  to  a  friendly  understanding 
with  Russia  and  France.' 


MacColl  to  George  Armitstead 

'September  3,  1897. — The  Concert  of  Europe  has  been 
the  parent  of  all  the  mischief  both  in  Greece  and  in  Armenia. 
How  different  would  the  case  be  now  if  the  Government 
had  followed  the  policy,  sketched  out  in  his  great  Liverpool 
speech,  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  instead  of  that  of  Lord  Rosebery's 
Edinburgh  speech  !  I  say  this  with  much  regret,  for  I 
like  Lord  Rosebery.  He  has  been  very  kind  to  me, 
and  I  rejoiced  when  he  succeeded  Mr.  Gladstone  in  the 
Premiership.  I  expected  great  things  from  his  ability,  his 
knowledge,  his  tact,  and  his  genuine  Liberalism  ;  and  I 
made  great  allowances  for  his  difficulties  at  the  head  of  a 
Cabinet  where  the  ablest  of  his  colleagues  was  at  once 
disloyal  to  him  and  at  the  same  time  Leader  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  And  in  the  mismanagement,  as  I 
think  it,  of  the  Armenian  Question  in  its  earlier  stages, 
I  laid  the  blame  on  Sir  W.  Harcourt,  who  did  not  want 
the  Government  to  score  a  great  success  in  a  department 
with  which  he  had  no  special  connexion.  .   .  . 

'  If  Lord  Rosebery  had  but  asserted  himself  more  and 
kept  Harcourt  in  his  place,  things  would  have  turned  out 
differently.  The  way  to  unite  the  Liberals  and  win  the 
masses  is  to  appeal  to  their  moral  sense  and  sympathies 
on  some  great  question  that  transcends  all  sectional  in- 
terests. If  Lord  Rosebery,  instead  of  suppressing  the  Con- 
sular reports  from  Armenia,  had  pubhshed  them  and  gone 
to  the  country  on  that  question,  he  would  have  carried  it 
as  jVIr.  Gladstone  did  on  the  Bulgarian  question,  and  would, 
moreover,  have  scored  a  great  diplomatic  victory.  There 
was  then  no  combination  of  Powers  on  the  other  side,  and 
England  might  have  carried  Russia  and  France  with  her. 
Italy  was  ahready  eager  to  follow  England  in  a  policy  of 
Coercion,  and  Russia  would  have  come  to  terms  with  us 
as  to  Armenia  if  we  had  not  unwisely,  as  I  think,  refused  her 
request  that  we  should  act  A\dth  her  on  the  China- Japanese 


ARMENIA  209 

question.  Lord  Rosebery  had  the  ball  at  his  feet  then, 
and  he  threw  away  his  chance.  But  Harcourt  has  since 
then  thrown  away  his  chance,  and  has  made  a  mess  of  the 
Greek  and  South  African  questions.  This  may  give  Lord 
Rosebery  another  chance.     Who  knows  ?  ' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  September  Q,  1897. — You  may  have  come  across  Dr.  Dick- 
son, the  writer  of  the  enclosed,  at  Constantinople,  and  are 
better  able  to  say  what  weight  attaches  to  his  name  than  I 
am.  I  have  no  personal  acquaintance  with  him,  but  heard 
him  well  spoken  of  when  I  was  at  Constantinople  five  years 
ago,  and  asked  him  if  I  might  publish  his  letter  with  or 
without  his  name.  I  have  just  got  his  answer,  in  which  he 
says  that  I  may  in  any  case  publish  his  letter  with  his 
initials  only,  but  with  his  full  name  if  the  Foreign  Office 
do  not  object.  If  your  Lordship  sees  no  objection,  I 
thought  of  publishing  Dr.  Dickson's  letter  with  some  com- 
ments of  my  own,  contrasting  your  Lordship's  method  with 
your  predecessor's,  which  you  inherited.  I  have  always 
thought  and  said  that  the  late  Government  is  largely 
responsible  for  the  massacres  in  Armenia  in  not  having 
settled  a  plan  of  Coercion  before  it  drew  upon  and  tried  to 
force  on  the  Sultan  a  scheme  of  reforms  which  violated  some 
fundamental  limits  of  the  Mohammedan  creed,  and  accept- 
ance of  which,  without  Coercion,  would  have  made  the  Sultan 
an  apostate  in  his  own  opinion,  and  in  that  of  all  his  Moham- 
medan subjects.  The  Sacred  Law  commands  him  to  yield 
to  force  majeure,  but  forbids  him  to  yield  to  anything  else. 
Your  Lordship's  circular  despatch  of  last  October  recognizes 
the  fact,  which  is  the  key  of  the  whole  question,  and  quite 
a  new  departure  in  the  diplomatic  history  of  the  Eastern 
Question.  The  point  is  one  which  it  is  very  hard  to  drive 
into  the  mind  of  the  British  public,  and  I  think  the  pubhca- 
tion  of  Dr.  Dickson's  letter  would  enable  me  to  reach  some 
minds  which  are  otherwise  inaccessible  to  me.  Of  course 
I  would  make  no  allusion  at  all  to  your  Lordship's  answer 
either  way.    If  your  Lordship  should  consider  it  advisable 


210  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  guarantee  singly  the  loan  for  payment  of  the  Greek 
Indemnity,  I  am  sure  the  country  would  approve.  Since  my 
return  I  have  been  making  enquiry  in  Liberal  quarters, 
and  I  am  sure  there  would  be  no  opposition  there,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  hearty  support.  The  whole  country  would  be 
delighted  to  see  Germany  checkmated.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  success  of  the  Sultan  in  diplomacy  and  in  Thessalj^ 
has  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  the  rising  of  the  Indian  tribes, 
stimulated  as  they  have  been  by  his  paid  emissaries.  Those 
tribes  are  very  ignorant,  and  it  is  probable  that  in  their 
minds  Greece  looms  as  the  country  which  hurled  back  the 
armies  to  Persia  and  sent  Alexander  the  Great  to  conquer 
India.  So  that  the  defeat  of  Greece  by  the  Sultan  means 
to  them,  in  a  vague  way,  the  defeat  of  Europe  in  general,  and 
England  in  particular.  I  have  sometimes  been  struck  with 
the  almost  incredible  ignorance  even  of  educated  Turks. 
When  I  was  in  Constantinople  five  years  ago  a  Greek  gentle- 
man was  imprisoned  for  refusing  to  reveal  the  hiding-place 
of  the  chief  of  a  dangerous  conspiracy.  The  accusation  was 
based  on  the  fact  that  a  copy  of  the  rules  of  a  perfectly  inno- 
cent Friendly  Society  were  found  on  him,  marked  with 
a  verse  from  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  as  follows  : 
"  Do  good  unto  all  men,  but  especially  unto  them  who  are 
of  the  household  of  faith. — Paulus  Galat.  vi.  10."  The 
police  thought  that  the  chief  of  the  conspiracy  was 
"Paulus,"  and  when  my  friend,  who  told  me  the  story, 
explained  to  the  Pasha  that  "  Paulus "  was  a  Christian 
Apostle  dead  more  than  eighteen  centuries  ago,  the  Pasha 
triumphantl}'^  replied  :  "  See  how  clever  those  Greeks  are, 
that  is  what  they  told  you;  but  don't  you  see  that  this 
'  Paulus '  lives  at  Galata  ?  But  the  rascals  have  given  a 
false  address.  There  is  no  such  number  as  vi.  10  in  Galata." 
My  friend  had  actually  to  produce  two  witnesses  known  to 
the  Prefect  of  Police  with  an  affidavit  that  Paulus  lived 
eighteen  centuries  ago  before  the  poor  Greek  gentleman 
could  be  got  out  of  prison. 

'  Let  the  Turks  be  driven  out  of  Thessaly  by  the  action  of 
England,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  fact  will  have  a  con- 
siderable influence  on  the  ignorant  Mohammedans  of  India.' 


ARMENIA  211 


MacColl  to  Gladstone 


'September  9,  1897. — Thank  you  very  much  for  your 
kind  and  interesting  letter.  How  Avell  and  clearly  you 
write !    Your  sight  seems  to  have  come  quite  back. 

'  Salisbury's  weakness  is  deplorable.  My  belief  is  that 
there  is  a  plot  on  the  part  of  Germany  to  keep  the  Turks 
in  Thessaly  and  destroy  the  Greek  Kingdom,  and  that 
Austria  and  Russia  are  privy  to  it :  probably  France  also. 
That  wretched  Levantine  Hanotaux  is  as  bad  as  any  of  them. 

'  But  what  are  the  Liberal  leaders  about  ?  They  are 
just  as  bad  as  the  Government.  They  have  done  absolutely 
nothing  to  enlighten  the  country.  It  shows  how  the  Bul- 
garian business  would  have  ended  if  you  had  not  taken  it  up. 
I  wish  you  would  persuade  Herbert  to  take  up  the  Greek  and 
Armenian  questions.  He  has  the  knowledge,  the  oratorical 
ability,  and  the  enthusiasm,  if  he  would  only  bestir  himself. 
He  has  a  great  opportunity  and  might  make  a  name  for 
himself.     The  name  he  bears,  too,  would  help  him  much.' 


The  foregoing  letter  may  be  regarded  as  closing  Mac- 
Coil's  active  service  in  the  Eastern  Question.  Gladstone's 
mortal  illness  had  now  begun,  though  its  true  character  had 
not  yet  been  recognized.  In  November  1897  he  left  England 
for  Cannes,  '  sanguine,'  as  he  said,  '  of  benefit  from  the 
southern  sun ' ;  but  the  pain  and  weakness  increased  week 
by  week,  and  in  February  1898  he  came  home  to  die.  In 
March  MacColl  visited  him  at  Bournemouth,  and  reported 
what  he  had  seen  in  the  following  letters  : 

March  21,  1898. 

'  Dear  Lord  Salisbury, — I  have  just  returned  from 
Bournemouth.  I  found  Mr.  Gladstone  greatly  changed, 
suffering,  and  dreadfully  depressed.  He  sent  to  ask  me 
to  dine  with  him.  When  I  arrived  he  said  "  I  wanted  you 
to  dine  with  me,  hoping  to  have  some  talk  with  you. 
But  you  must  excuse  me.  I  am  very  hard  hit.  I  cannot 
talk." 


212  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  His  mind  is  all  there,  as  his  occasional  remarks  show. 
He  expressed  himself  much  concerned  at  your  Lordship's 
illness,  and  made  some  acute  observations  on  politics. 

'  Then  he  laid  his  elbows  on  the  table  and  buried  his 
face  in  his  hands,  and  this  he  did  at  intervals  during  dinner. 
After  dinner  he  lay  on  the  sofa,  while  his  sons  played  the 
piano  by  turns.  Music  is  the  only  thing  that  soothes  pain. 
At  ten  he  went  to  bed.  After  saying  good-night  to  me, 
he  said  "  I  don't  know  if  I  shall  ever  see  you  again  "  ;  then 
he  put  his  arm  round  my  neck,  said  many  kind  things,  and 
patting  me  on  the  back,  blessed  me  and  retired. 

'  More  than  his  ordinary  depression  came  upon  him 
last  week.  He  has  not  been  able  to  read  or  write  for  a  long 
time  on  account  of  the  neuralgic  pain  Avhich  affects  the 
eyes  when  he  tries  to  use  them ;  and  he  does  not  care  to  be 
read  to. 

'  Your  Lordship  will  understand  how  trying  this  is  to  a 
man  of  liis  busy  brain.  His  spirits  are  utterly  broken.  All 
the  organs  of  his  body  are  sound  ;  but  the  danger  is  that  the 
continued  depression  will  so  diminish  his  vitality  as  seriously 
to  affect  the  heart,  and  the  lamp  of  hfe  may  go  out  suddenly. 

'  I  think  your  Lordship  will  like  to  know  these  particu- 
lars. Not  now  for  the  first  time  have  I  heard  him  speak 
most  kindly  of  you.  For  me  this  world  will  seem  different 
when  he  is  gone. 

'  I  hope  your  Lordship's  visit  to  the  South  wiU  com- 
pletely restore  your  health ;  and  I  remain,  with  much 
respect, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'Malcolm  MacColl.' 

March  25,  1898. 

'  Dear  Lord  Salisbury, — It  was  most  kind  of  you  to 
answer  my  letter.  I  did  not  expect  any  answer,  and  beg 
that  your  Lordship  will  not  take  the  trouble  to  answer  this. 
I  know  how  precious  your  time  is,  and  I  write  merely  to  tell 
you  two  things  which  perhaps  you  would  like  to  know. 

'  1.  An  expert  surgeon  (Sir  T.  Smith)  has  discovered 
that  Mr.  Gladstone's  trouble  is  caused  by  necrosis  of  the 


ARMENIA  213 

bone  on  one  side  of  the  nose.  It  is  possible  that  there  may 
be  something  cancerous,  for  it  was  impossible  to  make  a 
sufficiently  minute  examination  without  a  surgical  opera- 
tion, which  was  considered  unadvisable  at  his  age. 

'  How  long  he  will  last  the  doctors  cannot  say,  for  his 
physique  in  all  other  respects  is  excellent.  It  is  a  dreadful 
prospect,  and  he  bears  it  so  nobly.  At  first  he  prayed  for 
death,  but,  realizing  the  agony  his  death  would  cause  his 
wife,  he  prayed  for  life  as  long  as  she  was  allowed  to  live. 
But  I  am  sure  she  would  not  survive  him.  Their  lives 
have  become  almost  organically  united.  When  I  was  there 
last  week  he  said  "  I  am  hard  hit :  I  have  suffered  so  much 
during  the  past  six  months.  And  yet  I  ought  not  to 
complain.  I  have  now  enjoyed  a  life  of  176  half  years 
almost  entirely  without  pain,  and  it  would  be  ungrateful 
to  repine  if  I  am  now  doomed  to  one  half  year's  pain."  Was 
it  not  characteristic  of  him  to  go  into  this  calculation  ? 

'  His  freedom  from  pain  hitherto,  combined  with  his 
highly  strung  and  sensitive  organization,  makes  his  pain 
now  all  the  more  trying  ;  and  all  that  his  friends  can  do  for 
him  is  to  pray  that  his  pain  may  be  assuaged  or  the  ordeal 
shortened.  The  pain,  being  near  the  eye,  prevents  any 
reading  or  writing,  and  this  enforced  intellectual  idleness 
is  not  the  least  part  of  his  trial. 

'  2.  The  second  thing  I  wish  to  say  is  that  Mr.  Gladstone, 
even  in  his  pain,  not  only  sympathized  with  your  Lordship, 
when  he  heard  of  your  illness,  but  expressed  a  hope  that 
you  would  soon  be  able  to  take  charge  of  the  helm.  He  felt 
uneasy  about  the  outburst  of  Jingoism,  which  has  lately 
manifested  itself,  and  compared  it  to  the  similar  agitation 
which  drove  the  Aberdeen  Ministry  into  a  disastrous  war 
against  the  better  judgment  of  the  Prime  Minister.  I  may 
add  that  I  have,  within  the  last  few  weeks,  taken  some  pains 
to  ascertain  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  provinces,  and  my 
conviction  is  that  the  bellicose  portion  of  the  London  Press, 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  the  Clubs  are  entirely  out  of 
touch  with  the  country.  .   .    . 

'  I  hope  your  Lordship  will  not  venture  to  travel  in  this 
cruel  weather.     Influenza  is  a  foe  which  cannot  be  trifled 


214  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

with.     It  struck  me  down  suddenly  in  the  end  of  January, 
and  I  have  not  got  quite  over  it  yet. 

'  That  your  Lordship  may  be  long  spared  to  control  the 
course  of  public  afEairs  is,  dear  Lord  Salisbury,  with  sincere 
respect,  the  fervent  prayer  of 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Malcolm  MacColl.' 

Gladstone  died  on  May  19,  1898,  and  the  persecuted 
Christians  of  the  East  will  never  forget  that  he  bore 
them  on  his  heart  to  the  very  gate  of  the  eternal  world. 
Almost  his  last  intelligible  words  were :  '  Those  poor 
Armenians.' 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE    END    OF   CONTROVERSY 


Charge  once  more,  then,  and  be  dumb  ! 
Let  the  victors,  when  they  come. 
When  the  forts  of  folly  fall. 
Find  thy  body  by  the  wall  ! 

Matthew  Arnold. 

MacColl  always  disclaimed  the  title  of  Ritualist.  In  this 
he  Avas  quite  right  ;  for  he  was  neither  a  ritualist  in  the  strict 
sense  of  having  a  technical  knowledge  of  ritual,  nor  in  the 
popular  sense  of  over- valuing  pomp  and  ceremony  in  Divine 
worship.  He  held,  as  was  natural  in  a  man  of  Jacobite 
antecedents,  the  high  Sacramental  theology  which  obtained 
among  the  Non-Jurors,  and  we  have  seen  that,  in  very 
early  days,  he  risked  all  his  chances  of  professional 
advancement — nay,  his  very  means  of  subsistence — by 
vindicating  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  which  was 
taught  by  Bishop  Forbes  and  John  Keble.  He  was  entirely 
free  from  Romeward  inclinations — was  not  his  first  act 
of  controversy  a  dispute  with  aggressive  Romanism  ?  His 
intimacy  with  Dr.  Dollinger,  and  his  friendly  relations  with 
the  Orthodox  Church,  reinforced  the  sturdy  Anglicanism  in 
which  he  lived  and  died.  He  found  it  easy  to  make  common 
cause  with  all  Christian  men,  even  when  he  differed  from 
them  on  secondary  points ;  and  his  personal  relations  with 
a  Broad  Church  diocesan  and  a  Low  Church  chapter 
were  entirely  cordial.  Yet  he  never  shrank  from  bearing 
witness  to  what  he  believed.  '  I  cannot  be  there  ' — in  the 
pulpit  of  Ripon  Cathedral — '  and  not  teach  what  I  believe 
to  be  the  truth.' 

He  held  Erastianism  and  all  that  savoured  of  it  in  just 
abhorrence,  and,  when  the    law  of  the  Church  came  into 

2  If) 


216  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

conflict  with  the  law  of  the  State,  he  was  always  forward  to 
defend  the  Church's  right.     In  1896  he  wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

'  I  think  it  a  calamity  that  the  new  Primate  ^  should 
have  formally  told  the  clergy  of  his  late  diocese  that  it 
was  their  duty  to  lend  their  churches  for  the  marriage  of 
divorced  persons.  I  remember  your  telling  me  twenty-five 
years  ago  that  it  would  be  my  duty  to  lock  the  door  of  my 
church,  put  the  key  into  my  pocket,  and  go  to  prison, 
rather  than  lend  my  church  for  the  marriage  of  a  divorced 
person.     I  wish  you  would  say  something  of  the  kind.   ...  ■ 

The  sanctity  of  marriage  is  bound  up  with  the  well-being  I 

of    society,   and  it  is  being  undermined  in  this  country,  I 

largely  by  the  importation  of  pernicious  doctrines  and 
practices  from  America  and  France.  A  warning  from  you 
would  have  immense  weight.' 

Thus  in  essential  matters  MacCoU  was  a  thoroughly 
Catholic-minded  Churchman,  but  in  matters  of  ceremonial 
he  was  easily  satisfied.  He  liked,  and  in  his  own  church  prac- 
tised, the  type  of  worship  which  prevailed  at  All  Saints', 
Margaret  Street,  and  St.  Paul's,  Knightsbridge,  in  the 
'sixties  and  'seventies.  When  he  championed  those  who  went 
beyond  it,  he  was  actuated,  not  by  love  of  elaborate  rites,  but 
by  his  passion  for  justice  and  his  hatred  of  oppression. 

We  have  seen  in  an  earher  chapter  that,  when  the 
Public  Worship  Regulation  Act  of  1874  was  passed,  MacCoU 
strenuously  attacked  the  usurped  jurisdiction  of  the  ex- 
Divorce  Judge,  whom  the  Archbishops,  in  a  fit  of  panic,  had 
made  the  arbiter  of  liturgical  disputes  ;  and  exposed  the 
popular  misconceptions  which  lie  hidden  in  such  words  as 
Lawlessness,  SacerdotaHsm,  and  Rituahsm.  He  was  instant, 
in  season  and  out  of  season,  for  fair  play  for  ill-used  priests, 
and  even  incurred  rebuke  (in  a  quarter  where  he  least 
expected  it)  by  pleading  for  the  release  of  Mr.  Green.^  In 
1885  he  wrote  to  Gladstone: 

'  May  I  venture  to  enclose  a  copy  of  a  review  which  I 
wrote  for  the  Guardian  some  weeks  ago  of  a  most  pretentious 

1  Frederick  Temple. 

»  The  Rev.  S,  F.  Green,  Vicar  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  Miles  Platting. 


THE  END  OF  CONTROVERSY  217 

book^  written  to  rehabilitate  the  Purchas  and  Ridsdale 
Judgments,  by  a  lawyer  ?  The  book  is  recommended  by 
several  bishops,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  hear,  by  Lord  Selborne. 
I  believe  that  the  Church  of  England  stands  in  more  danger 
from  such  champions  as  these  than  she  does  from  the 
machinations  of  the  Liberation  Society.  I  wish  Lord 
Selborne  could  be  got  to  look  again  at  the  facts  in  respect 
to  the  Advertisements,  What  answer  can  be  given  to 
the  quotation  which  I  have  made  from  Grindal  ?  ' 

But  by  degrees  the  Public  Worship  Regulation  Act 
ceased  to  be  operative.  Archbishop  Tait,  on  his  deathbed, 
had  tried  to  undo  some  of  the  mischief  which  in  his  life  he 
had  wrought  ;  other  Bishops  followed  his  example  ;  and, 
after  the  '  Lincoln  Judgment,'  delivered  by  Archbishop 
Benson  in  1890,  prosecutions  for  Ritual  came  to  an  end. 
The  year  1898  dawned  on  a  Church  at  peace.  Nothing 
seemed  less  probable  than  a  recrudescence  of  that  ignorant 
and  violent  Puritanism  which  prevailed  in  the  years  when 
the  Public  Worship  Act  was  in  full  swing.  But  early  in 
the  year,  a  Protestant  bookseller,  who  had  long  been  en- 
deavouring to  get  himself  taken  seriously  by  the  public, 
rented  an  office  in  the  parish  of  St.  Ethelburga,  Bishops- 
gate,  in  order  that  he  might  be  legally  qualified  to  com- 
municate at  the  Parish  Altar,  and  to  disturb  the  united 
congregation  which  worshipped  there.  Firm  and  tactful 
treatment  averted  disturbance  ;  but  the  bookseller  soon 
made  another  bid  for  notoriety  by  violentl}'  interrupting 
the  service  of  the  Veneration  of  the  Cross  on  Good  Friday, 
at  St.  Cuthbert's  Church,  Philbeach  Gardens.  The  outrage 
at  St.  Cuthbert's  was  followed  by  similar  performances — 
notably  at  St.  Michael's,  Shoreditch,  and  St.  Thomas's, 
Liverpool ;  but  decent  Evangelicals  soon  became  disgusted 
with  their  self-chosen  champion  and  his  methods.  It  was 
found  impossible  to  maintain  the  reign  of  terror,  and  the 
clamour  was  dying  down,  when  that  stout  champion  of 
Erastianism  and  other  lost  causes,  Sir  William  Harcourt, 
rushed  into  the  fray.     His  last  achievement  in  this  field 

*  The  Reformation  Settlement,  by  J.  Lewis,  M.A.,  LL.D. 


218  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

had  occurred  during  the  debates  on  the  PubHc  Worship 
Regulation  Act  in  1874,  when  Gladstone  inflicted  on  him  a 
deserved  and  memorable  castigation.  Since  that  unpleasant 
but  salutary  evening,  Sir  WilUam  (who  after  Gladstone's 
return  to  power  in  1880  had  become  an  enthusiastic 
Gladstonian)  had  kept  aloof  from  rehgious  controversy. 
But  now  Gladstone  was  in  his  grave,  and  the  attack  on 
Rituahsm  might  be  renewed  without  risk.  Accordingly, 
Sir  William  broke  loose  in  anti-ritualistic  speeches,  and 
enlivened  the  parliamentary  recess  with  a  series  of  furious 
letters  to  the  Times.  His  object,  as  he  said,  was  to  bring  the 
Bishops  to  a  sense  of  their  duty,  and  one  of  those  Bishops — 
Mandell  Creighton — turned  the  tables  on  him  with  comical 
completeness.^ 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  JuUj  29,  1898. — I  take  the  hberty  of  enclosing  a  copy 
of  an  article  of  mine  in  the  forthcoming  Fortnightly 
Review  written  with  a  view  to  parrying  the  attempt  of  Sir 
William  Harcourt  to  return  to  power  on  the  "  Protes- 
tantism-in-danger  "  cry.  I  think  he  has  made  a  great 
tactical  blunder.  He  has  completely  alienated  the  High 
Church  party  as  well  as  the  Ritualists,  and  not  a  few  of 
the  Broad  Church  Party  ;  and  this,  I  believe,  without  any 
compensating  advantage.  He  M^ould  have  been  wise,  as  a 
Home  Ruler,  to  "  let  sleeping  (Protestant)  dogs  lie,"  for 
they  will  not  be  slow  to  ask  him  :  '  How  dare  you  propose 
to  hand  Ireland  over  to  a  Church  in  which  all  the  doctrines 
and  practices  which  you  denounce  prevail  ?  "  The  more 
astute  of  his  party  see  this,  and  are  very  much  annoyed  at 
his  maladroitness. 

'  I  don't  beheve  the  present  No  Popery  agitation  has  much 
substance  in  it,  or  that  it  will  last  long.  At  the  same  time  I 
believe  that  there  are  a  number  of  mischievous  fools  among 
the  Ritualists  who  deserve  to  be  summarily  suppressed. 
I  draw  a  hne  between  them,  and  those  who  merely  claim  the 
ritual    sanctioned   by  the   Ornaments  Rubric,  and  which, 

^  See  Creighton' s  Life,  vol.  ii.  p.  449. 


THE  END  OF  CONTROVERSY  219 

though  I  do  not  care  for  it  myself,  I  believe  to  be  entirely 
legal,  notwithstanding  the  Purchas  Judgment,  which  I 
am  convinced  is  a  gross  pervasion  of  the  law.  The  late 
Mr.  Justice  Fitzjames  Stephen  told  me  that  my  book  on 
the  subject  had  completely  convinced  him  that  the  Purchas 
Judgment  was  a  miscarriage  of  justice.' 

Lord  Salisbury  treated  the  situation  with  impartial 
sarcasm. 

'August  I,  1898. — Many  thanks  for  the  article  from 
your  pen  which  I  will  read  forthwith. 

'  I  feel  that  the  Ritualists  are  a  great  evil — not  on 
account  of  the  ritual,  which  I  cannot  treat  as  a  matter  of 
first-rate  importance — but  on  account  of  the  anarchy  they 
have  introduced  into  the  Church.  But  Harcourt's  objection 
is  pure  Ultra-Protestantism. 

'  He  has  held  this  language  for  five-and-twenty  years. 
It  is  too  foolish  not  to  be  sincere.' 

On  February  9,  1899,  Lord  SaHsbury  wrote  :  '  I  agree 
with  you  in  thinking  that  this  agitation  is  very  superficial. 
But  I  wish  the  Ritualists  were  not  such  idiots.' 

Still,  there  were  signs  of  a  Protestant  panic,  and  it 
made  its  way  into  the  House  of  Commons.  Puritan 
agitators  began  to  talk  airily  of  coercive  legislation  ;  of  the 
abolition  of  the  Bishop's  Veto  on  Ecclesiastical  prosecutions  ; 
of  the  substitution  of  deprivation  for  imprisonment ;  and 
of  other  short  and  easy  methods  for  de-catholicizing  the 
Church  of  P^ngland.  The  threats  of  1874  were  heard  again  ; 
and  we  were  told  once  more  that  '  the  Mass  '  and  '  the 
Confessional '  must  be  put  do\\n  by  law. 

Now,  it  was  eminently  true  of  MacColl  that  he  always 

rose  with  the  emergency  of  occasion  ;    and  here  was  an 

occasion  which  called  for  the  exercise  of  his  peculiar  gifts. 

He  responded  to  the  call  with  all  his  energy.  On  January  15, 

1 899,  he  wrote  to  Lord  Sahsbury : 

'  I  take  the  liberty  of  sending  you  a  signed  article  of 
mine  in  to-day's  Observer,  wTitten  after  careful  enquiry  all 


220  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

over  the  country.  My  belief  is  that  the  controversy  which 
Sir  W.  Harcourt  has  raised  has  scarcely  touched  the  work- 
ing classes.  Indeed  I  believe  that,  except  perhaps  in 
Lancashire,  he  will  gain  nothing.  He  has  quite  alienated 
Liberal  Churchmen  ;  and  when  the  day  of  reckoning  comes 
he  will  find  himself  in  a  cleft  stick  with  the  Evangelical 
party.  He  means  (so  John  Morley  tells  me)  to  stand  to 
his  guns  on  Home  Rule.  See  what  follows.  The  Protestants, 
who  are  now  shouting  for  him,  will  ask  him  before  the 
General  Election  :  "  Do  you  mean  to  hand  Ireland  over  to 
a  Church  which  teaches  and  practises  all  that  you  have 
been  denouncing  ?  " 

'  His  attempt  to  distinguish  between  those  doctrines  and 
practices,  as  held  by  the  Church  of  England  and  Church  of 
Rome,  is  absurd. 

'  He  denounces  them,  not  simply  because  he  thinks  them 
illegal,  but  because  he  beUeves  them  to  be  pernicious  and 
demoralizing.  The  Roman  Catholics  see  this,  and  its 
mischievous  influence  on  their  getting  a  University  in 
Ireland.  He  will  therefore  lose  the  Roman  Catholic  vote 
as  well  as  the  Church  vote. 

'  I  began  to  write,  three  weeks  ago,  a  book  on  the  whole 
controversy,  which  I  hope  to  send  to  the  printers  by  the 
end  of  this  month.  I  have  \witten  half  of  it,  and  I  think 
I  have  made  Harcourt's  position  utterly  irretrievable 
politically,  as  well  as  proved  him  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
questions  in  dispute. 

'  I  intend  my  book  to  be  very  moderate,  and  to  explain 
in  a  reasonable  and  loyal  sense  the  doctrines  which  Harcourt 
so  egregiously  misunderstands. 

'  I  intend  this  to  show  that  the  Purchas  and  Ridsdale 
Judgments  are  opposed  alike  to  law  and  history,  and  to  bring 
out  the  fact  that  they  are  in  deadly  conflict  with,  another 
Judgment  of  the  same  Court.  And  I  shall  conclude  with  a 
chapter  on  Romanism.  The  Roman  Catholics  are  crowing 
over  us,  and  I  intend  to  carry  the  war  into  their  camp. 

'  In  truth  the  whole  trouble  comes  from  a  few  incom- 
parable fools  among  the  younger  Ritualists,  who  deserve  no 
mercy. 


THE  END  OP  CONTROVERSY  221 

'  The  Bishop  of  London  ^  is  acting  with  great  tact  and 
discretion.  He  has  wisely  abstained  from  laying  down  any 
general  rule,  but  deals  with  each  case  on  its  merits  ;  and 
he  is  not  afraid  of  the  newspapers.  The  consequence  is 
that  he  is  quietly  getting  the  clergy  to  follow  his  decisions 
and  at  the  same  time  winning  the  confidence  and  respect 
of  the  Press.' 

The  book,  wliich  appeared  in  June  1899,  was  perhaps 
the  most  successful  of  all  MacColl's  controversial  works.  It 
was  called  '  The  Reformation  Settlement,  Examined  in  the 
light  of  History  and  Law,'  and  it  was  prefaced  by  an  Intro- 
ductory Letter  to  Sir  William  Harcourt.  It  dealt  in  turn 
with  the  Eucharistic  Presence,  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice, 
the  causes  and  results  of  the  Reformation,  the  testimony 
of  Anglican  Divines,  the  Propinquity  of  the  Spiritual 
World,  Sacerdotalism,  Confession,  the  Intermediate  State, 
the  Ecclesiastical  Courts,  the  Ornaments  Rubric,  and  the 
validity  of  Anglican  Orders. 

This  book  had  an  instantaneous  and  a  remarkable 
success.  One  competent  critic  declared  that  '  for  dignity, 
vigour,  and  incisiveness  it  was  worthy  of  the  author  of  the 
"  Letters  of  Junius."  '  Another  said  that  the  writer  had 
been  remarkably  successful  '  in  proving  that  the  principles 
which  High  Churchmen  have  inherited  from  the  Caroline 
Divines  fell  in  with  the  modern,  and,  in  the  best  sense 
liberal,  theology,  and  with  the  science  of  to-day.'  But 
perhaps  the  tribute  paid  by  the  Spectator  was  the  most 
remarkable,  for  that  exemplary  journal  still  maintained  the 
traditions  of  R.  H.  Hutton,  who  always  avowed  his  want 
of  sympathy  with  what  he  oddly  called  the  '  moral  logic  ' 
of  the  Ritualists  : 

'  We  hasten  to  add  our  tribute  of  cordial  respect  to  the 
general  conception  of  Canon  MacColl's  book,  and  to  the 
courage,  vigour,  and  thoroughness  with  which  he  has  carried 
it  out.  .  .  .  Having  demonstrated  the  historic  width  and 
the  present-day  reasonableness  of  Anglican  liberty  in  the 

^  Mandull  Creighton. 


222  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

realm  of  Sacramental  teaching,  Canon  MacCoU  is  not  less 
concerned  to  exhibit  the  injustice  of  the  attempt  to  suppress 
the  ritual  by  which  "  High  "  views  are  symbolized  and  set 
forth.  And,  in  particular,  he  deals  at  length,  and  very 
effectively  indeed,  with  the  Judgments  of  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee on  points  connected  with  the  Ornaments  Rubric.  .  .  . 
He  places  beyond  reasonable  doubt  the  fact  that  the  plain 
meaning  of  the  rubric  by  which  the  ornaments  of  the  Church 
and  of  its  ministers  were  deliberately  regulated  at  the  last 
revision  of  the  Prayer  Book  (which,  of  course,  has  Parlia- 
mentary as  well  as  Sjmodical  authority),  was  set  aside  by  the 
Judicial  Committee,  and  a  wholly  non-natural  meaning  read 
into  it  and  made  of  penal  obligation.  .  .  .  Another  point 
of  great  importance  on  which,  as  it  seems  to  us,  Canon 
MacColl  achieves  special  success,  is  his  demonstration  of  the 
unhistoric  character  of  the  claim,  put  forward  by  Sir  WilHam 
Harcourt  in  his  most  aggressive  manner,  that  the  Crown  and 
Parliament  have  a  right  to  determine  the  doctrine,  discipline, 
and  ceremonial  of  the  Church  of  England.  .  .  .  We  may 
not  agree  with  all  Canon  MacCoU's  conclusions,  but  we  must 
congratulate  him  on  having  produced  a  book  which  is  cal- 
culated to  promote  sound  thinking  on  the  relations  between 
Church  and  State,  and  to  dissuade  the  candid  reader  from 
participation  in  efforts  towards  a  reduction  of  the  ancient 
and  clearly  established  liberties  of  the  Anglican  clergy.' 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'July  17,  1899.— As  the  so-called  "Church  Crisis"  has 
been  a  matter  of  concern  to  you,  both  as  a  Churchman 
and  Statesman,  you  may  possibly  be  interested  in  knowing 
that,  in  addition  to  piles  of  private  letters,  mostly  from 
strangers  and  of  all  states  of  Churchmanship,  and  no 
Churchmanship,  or  even  disbelief  in  Christianity,  assuring 
me  that  my  book  presented  the  question  in  dispute  in  a 
light  which  seemed  to  my  correspondents  reasonable,  the 
organs  of  pubHc  opinion  have  also  treated  me  with  great 
friendliness.     I  take  the  liberty   of  enclosing   an  abstract 


THE  END  OF  CONTROVERSY  223 

of  reviews,  which  my  pubHshers  tell  me  is  a  fair  selection. 
I  have  always  believed  in  the  justice  of  John  Bull  when 
a  fair  appeal  was  made  to  his  reason  and  love  of  fair 
play.  The  recent  elections  have  shown,  I  think,  that  the 
agitation,  as  I  have  always  maintained,  has  never  touched 
the  masses  and  that  the  Church  Association  and  the  Pro- 
testant Laymen's  League  are  a  negligible  quantity  in  the 
electorate. 

'  The  Conservative  candidates  in  Edinburgh  and  Oldham 
surrendered  unconditionally  to  the  Church  Association. 

'  The  Liberal  candidates  refused  their  terms  and  won 
by  triumphant  majorities.  In  East  St.  Pancras  the  Conser- 
vative candidate  spurned  the  Church  Association  and  won. 
In  Southport  my  friend  Captain  C.  B.  Balfour  fell  between 
tAvo  stools.  He  accepted  nearly  all  the  terms  of  the  Ultra- 
Protestants,  including  the  abolition  of  the  Episcopal  Veto, 
but  advocated  diplomatic  relations  with  the  Pope.  He 
thus  failed  to  roconciliate  the  Protestants,  and  he  alienated 
many  Churchmen.' 

In  issuing  a  cheaper  edition,  with  a  fresh  preface  and  some 
additional  matter,  MacCoU  remarked  with  great  satisfaction  : 
'  The  interest  taken  by  the  public  in  the  subjects  discussed 
in  this  volume  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  book  ran 
through  seven  editions  within  a  year  of  its  publication.' 
A  tenth  edition  was  pubHshed  in  1901. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  MacColl's  beliefs,  or  of 
the  arguments  by  which  he  upheld  them  (and  the  present 
writer  agrees  with  him  both  in  the  former  and  in  the 
latter),  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  facts  and  documents 
which  he  collected  and  made  generally  accessible  in  '  The 
Reformation  Settlement,'  are,  if  not  vital,  at  least  pro- 
foundly relevant  to  the  life,  structure,  and  working  of  the 
Enghsh  Church. 

The  storm  was  not  yet  at  an  end.  A  '  Church  Discipline 
Bill,'  aimed  at  destroying  Ritualism,  was  introduced  in 
1899,  and  questions  of  rituahsm  and  its  suppression  played 
a  considerable  part  in  the  General  Election  of  1900. 


224  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  October  2,  1900. — I  have  taken  the  Hberty  of  asking 
my  pubHshers  to  send  you  a  copy  of  the  new  edition  of 
my  book  on  "The  Reformation  Settlement."  In  a  new- 
preface  and  two  additional  chapters  I  have  subjected  the 
Lambeth  Decisions  to  an  exhaustive  internal  examination. 
Foolish  and  mischievous  as  I  think  the  conduct  of  some  of 
the  extreme  Ritualists,  I  consider  it  less  mischievous  than 
the  decisions  of  the  Archbishops. 

'  I  have  given  my  reasons  for  that  opinion  at  length  in  my 
criticism.  Our  bishops,  with  the  best  intentions,  have  always 
displayed  a  genius  for  mismanaging  every  Church  movement, 
whether  Low,  High,  or  Broad.  I  am  sometimes  tempted  to 
think  that  the  strongest  historical  argument  for  the  Divine 
origin  of  the  Church  in  this  land  is  the  fact  of  its  having 
survived  on  every  critical  occasion  the  blundering  tactics  of 
its  chief  members.  People  will  generally  follow  leaders  who 
know  how  to  lead.  I  have  always  believed  and  said  that 
there  never  was  any  substance  in  the  Kensit  agitation. 

'  It  never  had  any  popular  backing,  and  it  is  already 
practically  dead.  Even  Harcourt,  who  expected  to  ride 
back  to  office  on  the  crest  of  a  great  popular  wave  of  Pro- 
testantism, has  discovered  his  mistake,  and  has  dropped  the 
subject.  .   .   . 

'  I  have  received  letters  of  commendation  from  leading 
Nonconformists,  and  Scotch  Presbyterians  ;  and  the  Divinity 
Faculty  of  the  University  of  St.  Andrews  have  invited  me 
to  deliver  an  address  to  the  University  this  month,  and 
I  have  agreed  to  do  so  with  the  approval  of  the  Bishop  of 
London  and  the  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  Dr.  Wilkinson,  late 
of  Truro. 

'  My  new  edition  also  contains  a  chapter  in  answer  to 
a  courteous  attack  on  me  by  Professor  Maitland  of  Cam- 
bridge, who  also  wrote  a  book  a  year  ago  to  prove  that  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford  is  quite  wrong  in  maintaining  that  the 
Roman  Canon  Law  was  never  formally  received  in  England. 
Maitland,  an  able  and  very  learned  man,  is  one  of  those 
agnostics  who  seek  to  damage  the  Church  of  England  for 


THE  END  OF  CONTROVERSY  225 

the  purpose  of  damaging  dogmatic  Christianity  altogether  ; 
and  their  method  is  to  argue  that  the  only  logical  theory 
of  Christianity  is  the  Roman  Church  in  its  most  aggressively 
Ultramontane  form. 

'  They  know  that  that  form  of  Christianity  will  not 
prevail,  and  hence  their  anxiety  to  represent  it  as  the  only 
logical  form  of  Christianity,  and  that  form  which  prevailed 
in  England  before  the  Reformation. 

'  I  must  apologize  for  troubling  your  Lordship  at  this 
busy  time,  but  the  insistent  Protestants  will  doubtless  press 
their  Bill  ^  on  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and,  unless  my 
argument  can  be  refuted,  I  think  I  have  shown  that,  if  the 
law  be  impartially  enforced,  the  authors  of  the  Church 
Discipline  Bill  are  likely  to  share  the  fate  of  the  inventor  of 
the  guillotine  and  be  first  victims  of  their  own  instrument.' 

The  General  Election  of  1900  confirmed  Lord  Salisbury 
in  power,  with  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour  as  Leader  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  '  Church  Disciphne  Bills  '  were  still  in  fashion, 
and  succeeded  one  another  in  the  sessions  of  1901,  1902, 
and  1903. 

MacColl  to  Salisbury 

'  November  8,  1901. — I  never  believed  that  there  was  any 
substance  in  the  Kensit  outburst  of  fanatical  Protestantism, 
or  any  popular  support  behind  it,  though  Sir  William 
Harcourt  thought  he  was  going  to  ride  into  office  on  the 
crest  of  a  great  Protestant  Avave.  The  Brighton  Church 
Congress  marked  the  end  of  the  "Crisis."  The  extreme 
men  on  both  sides  were  cowed  and  silenced  by  the  practical 
argument  between  moderate  Evangelicals  and  High  Church- 
men on  fundamental  questions.  The  Bishop  of  Exeter  and 
I,  for  instance,  were  chosen  to  open  the  discussion  on  the 
Church  of  England's  appeal  to  antiquity,  in  the  belief, 
I  suppose,  that  we  represented  opposite  schools  ;  but  our 
papers,  without  any  previous  communication  with  each 
other,    ran   on   the    same   lines    and    came    to    the    same 

'  A  Bill  aimed  at  suppressing  Ritualism. 


226  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

conclusion  ;   and  the  Bishop  told  me  afterwards  that  he 
could  not  detect  any  material  difference  between  us.'  ^ 

We  have  already  seen  that  MacColl  parted  company 
with  the  Liberal  party  after  Gladstone's  retirement  from 
the  Premiership.  He  had  no  confidence  in  the  politicians  who 
from  that  time  on  framed  the  Liberal  pohcy,  though  he  was 
on  friendly  terms  with  them  in  private  life.  In  short,  there 
was  no  Liberal  leader  in  whom  he  could  perceive  that  blend 
of  good  citizenship  and  good  churchmanship  which  had 
always  fascinated  him  in  Salisbury  and  Gladstone.  He 
specially  disHked  the  line  which  the  Liberal  leaders  took 
in  the  matter  of  public  education.  In  1902  he  wrote  to 
Lord  Salisbury : 

'  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  deemed  obtrusive  if  I  venture  to 
congratulate  your  Lordship  on  the  fine  and  noble  speech 
which  your  son  Lord  Hugh  dehvered  on  the  second  reading 
of  the  Education  Bill. 

'  It  was  very  refreshing  to  hear  it  in  these  days  of  vulgar 
popularity-hunting  and  Mammon-worship.  I  wish  I  could 
live  to  see  him  leader  of  the  Conservative  party  and  Prime 
Minister.  It  is  moral  earnestness  and  spiritual  elevation 
of  character  that  tell  most  with  the  mass  of  people  in  this 
country,  if  it  be  combined  with  intellectual  abiHty. 

'  I  beheve  that  Mr.  John  Morley,  agnostic  though  he  be, 
has  more  influence  in  the  country  than  any  Liberal  leader, 
because  of  his  moral  earnestness  and  conscientious  fidehty 
to  his  convictions  regardless  of  personal  consequences. 

'  I  hope  one  result  of  the  Education  controversy  will  be 
to  get  rid  of  that  mischievous  imposture — "Undenomina- 
tional religious  education."  I  don't  understand  the  excite- 
ment of  the  Nonconformists,  It  seems  to  me  exceedingly 
doubtful  whether  the  Bill,^  as  it  stands,  will  help  Church 
Schools  at  all.' 

1  Mr.  Balfour,  who  succeeded  Lord  Salisbury  as  Prime  Minister  in  1902, 
sought  [to  allay  the  anxiety  of  his  followers  by  a  Royal  Commission  on 
Ecclesiastical  Discipline,  which  was  issued  on  April  23,  1904,  and  reported 
on  June  21,  1906.  MacColl  was  examined  before  the  Commission,  and  gave 
valuable  evidence. 

*  The  Conservative  Education  Bill. 


THE  END  OF  CONTROVERSY  227 

On  June  15,  1902,  he  wrote  to  Lord  Salisbury  : 

'  I  believe  the  great  majority  of  the  public  are  grossly 
misled  as  to  the  present  state  of  the  religious  question  under 
the  Board  School  System.  This  impression  prompted  me 
to  write  an  article  on  the  subject,  of  which  I  take  the  Uberty 
of  enclosing  a  copy.  My  article,  together  with  some  letters 
which  I  wrote  in  the  Times  and  Westminster  Gazette,  has 
brought  in  some  interesting  letters  from  Nonconformists, 
saying  that  my  presentment  of  the  case  is  quite  new  to  them. 
The  Liberal  Association  of  this  (Ripon)  division  of  Yorkshire 
has  summoned  a  meeting  on  the  question  on  July  11,  and  they 
have  asked  me  to  speak.  I  agreed  to  do  so  if  they  allowed 
me  to  speak  on  the  lines  of  the  enclosed  article,  and  the}'^ 
have  consented  and  give  me  carte  blanche.  I  think  the  Church 
party  have  been  acting  too  much  on  the  defensive,  generally 
a  great  mistake  in  controversial  tactics.  To  be  constantly 
defending  ourselves  gives  an  impression  that  we  have  no 
case. 

'  If  the  Nonconformists  persist  in  their  violent,  and  as 
it  seems  to  me,  unreasoning,  denunciations,  would  it  not  be 
well  to  offer  to  lease  (if  not  buy)  the  Church  School  Buildings, 
leaving  each  denomination  to  teach  its  own  rehgion  in  all 
schools  at  stated  hours  ?  We  should  then  have  universal 
Board  Schools,  and  the  Church  could  provide  a  gradually 
trained  class  of  catechists  who  would  give  Church  children 
in  all  schools  far  better  religious  instruction  [than  is  now 
given  in  most  of  the  voluntary  schools.  The  cost  of  training 
and  maintaining  this  staff  of  catechists  would  be  borne  bj'^ 
the  State  payment  for  our  School  Buildings,  and  would 
make  our  School  managers  able  to  be  independent  of  local 
subscriptions,  which  will,  I  fear,  fall  off  with  the  payment 
of  rates.' 

''November  27,  1902. — I  am  taking  the  liberty  of  sending 
you  a  copy  of  a  little  book  of  mine  on  the  Education 
Question.  I  lost  patience  with  the  Nonconformists  and 
the  Liberal  party  and  sat  down  to  write  very  hurriedly  an 
exposure  of  their  inconsistencies  and  not  too  scrupulous 
conduct. 

Q  2 


228  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  They  care  a  great  deal  more  to  damage  the  Church  and 
the  Government  than  to  advance  the  cause  of  education, 
I  am  sure  they  overrate  their  strength  in  the  country. 
I  have  received  a  number  of  letters  from  Nonconformists 
begging  me  to  believe  that  the  clamour  of  the  political 
Nonconformists  by  no  means  represents  the  Nonconformists 
as  a  body. 

'  My  object  has  been  : 

'  1.  To  detach  the  Secularists,  who  are  logical  and 
honest,  from  the  Liberal  and  Nonconformist  party  on  this 
question. 

'  2.  To  show  the  unfair  and  inconsistent  attitude  of  the 
Nonconformists  and  the  Opposition.  The  former,  whose 
raison  d'etre  is  to  liberate  the  Christian  religion  from  State 
control  and  endowment,  are  now  agitating  for  the 
State  endowment  and  control  of  a  new  religion,  namely 
Undenominationalism . 

'  3.  To  prove  that  the  Opposition — leaders,  rank  and  file, 
are  in  this  matter  going  against  Liberal  principles  in  general 
and  Mr.  Gladstone's  Liberalism  in  particular. 

'  I  trust  the  House  of  Lords  will  abolish,  or  at  least 
essentially  modify,  the  Kenyon-Slaney  amendment.^  It 
\Adll  not  gain  the  Government  a  single  seat :  it  will  lose 
them  many  at  the  next  Election.  With  that  amendment 
the  security  for  the  religious  education  of  the  Church's 
children  is  gone.  Even  Avithout  the  Kenyon-Slaney  amend- 
ment, the  schools  will  be  in  peril.  The  managers  will  find 
it  hard  to  obtain  the  necessary  subscriptions  for  repairs  and 
structural  changes  and  additions,  and  it  will  be  moderate 
rather  than  extreme  incumbents  whom  the  amendment 
Avill  hurt.' 

Salisbury  to  MacColl 

December  7,  1902. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obhged  to  you 
for  your  letter,  and  your  book  on  the  Education  Question. 

1  Colonel  Kenyon-Slaney  carried  an  amendment  to  the  Education  Bill, 
providing  that  religious  education  in  a  Voluntary  School  shall  be  under  the 
control  of  the  Managers,  as  distinguished  from  the  Incumbent. 


THE  END  OF  CONTROVERSY  229 

'  I  have  not  voted  on  the  Education  Bill — as  I  am  not 
at  all  satisfied  with  the  probable  working  of  the  Kenyon- 
Slaney  Clause.' 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

MacCoIl's  unwilHngness  to  help  the  Liberal  party  re- 
strained him  from  taking  part  in  the  resistance  which  the 
Liberals,  some  strongly  and  others  faintly,  offered  to  the 
South  African  war  ;  but  there  were  some  incidents  in 
the  campaign  which  stirred  him  to  private  remonstrance. 
On  November  16,  1901,  he  wrote  to  Lord  Salisbury  : 

'  You  have  always  been  kind  and  patient  with  me,  even 
when  I  fear  I  have  been  very  troublesome.  But  I  am 
writing  this  note  in  the  interests  of  the  Government. 

'  I  have  been,  as  your  Lordship  knows,  for  years  Honorary 
Secretary  of  a  powerful  nonpoHtical  Committee  to  help 
the  Christians  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  I  had  much  diffi- 
culty in  managing  the  Committee  and  preventing  a  fierce 
agitation  throughout  the  country  at  the  time  of  the  Armenian 
horrors,  but  I  was  able  to  say  that  it  was  Lord  Rosebery's 
Cabinet  which  had  left  the  Armenians  to  their  fate,  and 
left  your  Lordship  such  a  damnosa  hcereditas  as  practically 
tied  your  hands,  and  I  proved  my  impeachment  with 
abundant  evidence  in  my  book,  "The  Sultan  and  the 
Powers."  I  offended  the  Liberal  leaders  to  the  quick,  and 
increased  my  offence  by  publicly  advising  those  who  wished 
to  help  the  Armenians  to  vote  against  the  Liberals  in  the 
Election  of  1805. 

'  Since  then  I  have  taken  no  part  in  politics. 

'  I  have  kept  entirely  aloof  from  the  controversy  on  the 
South  African  question,  except  twice,  when  I  wrote  to  the 
papers  to  defend  Lord  Kitchener,  whom  I  knoA\-  well,  against 
accusations  of  cruelty  and  inhumanity  both  in  the  Soudan 
and  in  South  Africa. 

'  That  is  a  long  preface  to  explain  the  real  object  of  this 
letter.  For  some  weeks  past  I  have  been  bombarded  with 
letters  reproaching  me  for  not  helping  to  rouse  the  country 


230  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  what  my  correspondents  call  the  cruelties  that  are  going 
on  in  South  Africa.  The  enclosed  cutting  is  a  specimen 
of  what  people  send  me.  I  confess  that  letters  like  this 
coming  from  our  own  soldiers — and  I  have  seen  not  a  few 
of  them — are  dreadful  reading.  Is  all  this  indiscriminate 
burning  and  destruction  necessary  ?  My  own  belief  is 
that  it  does  not  fulfil  its  object  in  South  Africa,  while  it 
is  certainly  damaging  the  Government  here  to  a  degree, 
I  believe,  that  Party  managers  are  not  aware  of.  I  had 
experience  of  this  in  the  Bulgarian  business.  There  is  a 
large  number  of  people — large  enough  to  decide  an  Election 
— who  do  not  trouble  themselves  much  about  Party  politics 
but  are  roused  to  zealous  energy  by  an  appeal  to  their 
emotions  and  sense  of  justice.  To  this  class  of  people  Lord 
Beaconsfield  owed  his  defeat  in  1880.  His  cjniical  attitude 
towards  the  Bulgarian  massacres  roused  a  fierce  feehng  of 
vengeance  among  a  mass  of  people  outside  the  ken  of 
political  managers. 

'  I  do  not  say  that  there  is  anything  Hke  that  now,  but 
there  is  a  strong  feeling,  increasing  in  volume  and  by  no 
means  confined  to  Liberals,  against  the  policy  of  wholesale 
farm-burning  and  the  prevalence  of  martial  law.  I  feel 
sad  and  distressed  about  the  whole  business  ;  but  I  keep 
my  distress  to  myself.  I  beheve,  however,  that  I  am  doing 
the  Government  a  service  by  writing  this  letter  to  your 
Lordship.  If  any  mitigation  of  the  policy  of  indiscriminate 
farm-burning  can  be  devised,  it  would  be  a  rehef  to  many 
who  are,  and  wish  to  remain,  friendly  with  the  Government.' 


Salisbury  to  MacColl 

November  18,  1901. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — Any  discussions  of  the  measures 
which  repel  you  must  necessarily  turn  on  the  question 
whether  we  are  justified  in  sanctioning  the  warlike  pohcy 
which  our  Generals  consider  necessary.  War  is  a  terrible 
thing.  The  Boers  should  have  thought  of  its  horrible 
significance  when  they  invaded  the  Queen's  dominions 
without  a  cause.     The  detailed  measures  of  the  war  must 


THE  END  OF  CONTROVERSY  231 

be  adopted  in  conformity  with  the  opinions  of  the  Generals 
to  whom  we  trust  our  poHcy.  The  answer  to  criticisms  on 
farm-burning  must  continue  to  be — the  Generals  thought 
it  necessary, 

'  I  agree  with  you  that  the  horrors  of  the  Concentration 
Camps  followed  on  this  decision — almost  of  necessity.  The 
huddling  together  of  so  many  human  beings,  especially 
women  and  children,  could  not  but  cause  a  great  mortality  ; 
particularly  among  a  people  so  dirty  as  the  Boers. 

'  The  question  whether  it  will  dispose  the  Election  against 
us  in  1905  or  1906  is  not  a  question  which  can  aid  us  now — 
though  I  dare  say  you  are  right. 

'  Ever  yours  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

But  Lord  Salisbury's  long  day  of  honourable  service 
was  drawing  to  its  close.  He  had  lost  his  gifted  wife  ; 
his  health  was  faihng ;  and  his  natural  tendency  to 
depression  increased  month  by  month.  On  July  11, 
1902,  he  resigned  the  Premiership,  and  on  July  18  MacCoU 
addressed  him  as  follows  : 

'  Perhaps  I  may,  without  presumption,  venture  to  add 
to  the  multitude  of  similar  expressions  which  have  reached 
your  Lordship  my  humble  and  most  sincere  regret  at  your 
retirement  from  public  life.  The  two  questions  that  have 
always  interested  me  in  politics  are  the  welfare  of  the 
Church,  with  which  I  believe  the  interest  of  the  nation  to 
be  so  intimately  bound  ;  and  the  relations  of  this  country 
with  Russia,  and  the  Ottoman  Empire  and  its  Christian 
subjects.  There  is  no  one  left  in  either  House  of  Parliament 
or  on  either  Front  Bench  who  is  really  master  of  either 
of  these  subjects,  or  who  seriously  cares  about  them. 

'  Your  son,  Lord  Hugh,  understands  both,  and  I  hope 
that  he  has  a  great  future  before  him.  But  meanwhile  the 
outlook  seems  to  me  far  from  bright ;  and  I  am  not  a 
pessimist  by  nature. 

The  old  order  changeth,  yielding  place  to  new. 
'  What  the  new  has  in  store  for  this  country  is  hidden 


2^2  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

from  us.      I  trust  it    may  be    more    auspicious    than    I 
anticipate. 

'  I  thank  your  Lordship  for  all  the  kindness  and  forbear- 
ance which  you  have  ever  shown  to  me,  even  when  I  have 
been,  as  I  fear,  very  troublesome.  My  interest  in  politics 
is  now  dead.  You  are  the  last  of  the  statesmen  to  whom 
I  have  been  accustomed  to  look  up,  and  who  made  politics 
interesting  for  me.' 

Here  is  Lord  Salisbury's  reply  : 

July  19,  1902. 

'  My  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  thank  you  heartily  for 
your  kind  letter. 

'  I  agree  with  you  in  looking  forward  with  much  interest 
on  the  future  that  is  coming  upon  us.  It  may  be  better — 
I  do  not  know — but  I  think  it  will  be  very  different  from  the 
past  we  are  leaving  behind. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 


CHAPTER  X 

FRIENDSHIP   AND    HOME 

Some  persons  are  pleasant  only  when  they  are  with  one  companion ;  others 
only  in  a  large  company,  where  they  can  shine.  Whereas,  the  really  pleasant 
person  is  pleasant  everywhere,  and  with  everyone. — Sir  Arthur  Helps. 

We  have  now  reached  the  close  of  MacCoU's  poUtical  activi- 
ties, and  the  moment  seems  suitable  for  a  brief  survey  of 
his  private  and  social  hfe.  In  the  year  1898  an  anonymous 
writer,  after  describing  certain  clergymen  who  played  more 
or  less  successfully  the  part  of  the  French  Abbe  in  English 
society,  continued  in  the  following  words  : 

'  Canon  Malcolm  MacColl  is  an  Abbe  with  a  difference. 
No  one  eats  his  dinner  more  sociably  or  tells  a  story  more 
aptly  ;  no  one  enjoys  good  society  more  keenly  or  is  more 
appreciated  in  it ;  but  he  does  not  make  society  a  pro- 
fession. He  is  conscientiously  devoted  to  the  duties  of  his 
Canonry  ;  he  is  an  accomplished  theologian  ;  and  he  is 
perhaps  the  most  expert  and  vigorous  pamphleteer  in 
England.  The  Franco-German  War,  the  Athanasian  Creed, 
the  Ritualistic  prosecutions,  the  case  for  Home  Rule,  and 
the  misdeeds  of  the  Sultan,  have  in  turn  produced  from  his 
pen  pamphlets  which  have  rushed  into  huge  circulations 
and  swollen  to  the  dimensions  of  solid  treatises.  Canon 
MacColl  is  genuinely  and  ex  animo  an  ecclesiastic  ;  but  he  is 
a  politician  as  well.  His  inflexible  integrity  and  fine  sense 
of  honour  have  enabled  him  to  play,  with  credit  to  himself 
and  advantage  to  the  public,  the  rather  risky  part  of  the 
Priest  in   PoHtics.     He   has   been   trusted   aUke   by   Lord 

233 


234  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Salisbury  and  by  Mr.  Gladstone  ;  has  conducted  negotiations 
of  great  pith  and  moment ;  and  has  been  behind  the  scenes 
of  some  historic  performances.  Yet  he  has  never  made  an 
enemy,  nor  betrayed  a  secret,  nor  lowered  the  honour  of  his 
sacred  calling.'  ^ 

'  Genuinely  and  ex  animo  an  ecclesiastic  '  was  a  phrase 
fully  warranted  by  the  facts,  although  MacColl's  exercise 
of  his  ministry  was  unsystematic  and  disjointed.  Dr. 
Jackson,  who  was  Bishop  of  London  when  he  was  appointed 
to  St.  George's,  Botolph  Lane,  '  regarded  such  livings  in  the 
light  of  honourable  sinecures,  giving  leisure  and  a  moderate 
income  to  clergymen  who  were  able  and  wiUing  to  serve 
the  Church  with  their  pens.'  ~  So,  at  first  MacCoU  did  little 
in  his  parish,  but  he  was  extremely  kind  in  helping  over- 
worked clergymen.  He  often  did  duty  for  his  friend  and 
former  fellow-curate,  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Langhorne,  Vicar  of 
St.  Augustine's,  Stepney,  and  in  1891  he  took  temporary 
charge  of  Holy  Trinity,  Shoreditch,  whence  he  wrote  to 
Gladstone  : 

'  I  am  here  in  the  charge  of  Mr.  Jay's  parish — 8000 
people  in  the  most  abject  poverty.  He  could  not  take  a 
hoHday,  so  I  offered  to  take  his  place  for  a  month.  It  is 
rather  hard  work  ;  daily  services  :  three  on  Thursday,  with 
a  sermon,  and  five  on  Sunday,  with  three  sermons.  Mr.  Jay 
is  a  hero.  I  admire  his  work  here  so  much.  My  own 
church  is  now  closed,  and  a  commission  is  sitting  to  settle 
the  terms  of  the  union  of  my  parish  vnth  a  neighbouring 
one.' 

'  Three  sermons  '  were  no  terror  to  MacCoU,  who  was 

^  Collections  and  Recollections,  series  i. 

^  The  following  facts  concerning  St.  George's,  Botolph  Lane,  are  supplied 
by  th<*  kindness  of  the  Registrar  of  the  Diocese  . 

'  Canon  Malcolm  MacColl  was  instituted  to  this  benefice  on  April  27,  1871. 
He  ceased  to  be  Rector  on  November  28,  1901.  The  church  was  closed  on 
account  of  its  dangerous  condition  about  the  middle  of  the  year  1891.  The 
authority  (under  the  Union  of  Benefices  Act,  1860)  for  the  removal  of  the 
church  was  issued  in  February  1903,  and  then  St.  George's  was  united  to 
the  Parish  of  St.  Mary-at-Hill  (Prebendary  CarlUe's  Parish).' 


FRIENDSHIP  AND  HOME  235 

a  vigorous  preacher,  and  loved  preaching.     In    1894    he 
wrote  to  Gladstone  : 

'I  have  received  about  fifty  letters,  from  all  over  the 
country — some  of  them  very  touching — from  people  in  sor- 
row, begging  me  to  collect  and  pubUsh  two  series  of  sermons 
which  I  preached  at  Ripon  :   one  last  year  on  Immortality, 
and  one  this  year  on  the  Intermediate  State.     Three  or  four 
Yorkshire  papers  and  one  London  paper  report  my  sermons 
while  I  am  at  Ripon  without  my  consent,  and  that  is  why 
I  get  letters  about  them.     I  have  promised  at  last  to  bring 
out  a  volume  of  sermons  this  year  ;    but  that  would  only 
mean  revising  and  enlarging  the  published  reports.     It  is 
wonderful  what  hazy  views  even  Churchpeople  have  about 
the  future  Hfe.     I  have  letters  from  dissenters — one  of  them 
a  dissenting  minister — saying  that  my  sermons  were  "  a 
new  revelation  "  to  him.     Yet  there  is  nothing  in  them  that 
is  not  commonplace.' 

MacCoU's  church  had  been  condemned  as  a  dangerous 
structure,  and  was  closed  in  1891.  Thenceforward  his  only 
official  duties  were  those  attached  to  his  Canonry,  and  he 
was  free  to  pursue  his  journaHstic  and  literary  avocations 
as  his  fancy  led  him.  Gladstone  had  hatched  a  project  for 
reprinting  Sir  WiUiam  Palmer's  'Treatise  on  the  Church,' ^ 
and  had  urged  MacCoU  to  act  as  general  Editor  of  the  reprint, 
employing  experts  in  the  various  fields  of  knowledge  which 
the  treatise  touched.  MacColl  spent  an  infinitude  of  time 
and  trouble  on  the  endeavour  ;  but  the  difficulties,  some 
emanating  from  Palmer  himself,  were  innumerable,  and  in 
the  end  proved  to  be  insuperable.  The  correspondence 
lasted,  off  and  on,  from  1881  to  1898,  and  nothing  came  of 
it  after  all.     It  was  a  deplorable  waste  of  energy  which, 

1  Tho  sermons  were  published  under  the  title  of  Life  Here  and  Hereafter  ; 
and.  together  with  his  other  theological  writings,  obtained  for  MacColl  on 
April  14,  1899,  the  honorary  degree  of  D.D.  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 

-  A  Treatise  on  the  Church  of  Christ,  designed  chiefly  for  the  vm  of  studevt-^ 
of  theology.  By  the  Rev.  William  Pabner,  M.A.,  of  Worcester  College,  Oxford. 
1838. 


236  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

more  wisely  directed,  might  have  connected  MacColl's  name 
with  a  work  of  permanent  value  to  religion. 

In  journalism,  where  MacColl  was  unhampered  by  the 
frowardness  of  collaborators,  he  was  eminently  successful. 
His  income,  from  that  source  alone,  was  at  one  time  £1000 
a  year.  Yet  he  was  wholly  indifferent  to  money.  '  Poverty,' 
he  once  wrote, '  is  not  poverty  to  me ' — and  he  spent  as  freely 
as  he  earned.  He  had  always  lived  at  what  is  vaguely 
called  '  The  West  End '  of  London — in  lodgings  at  Lyall 
Place  and  at  Chester  Terrace,  in  chambers  at  New  Burlington 
Street,  and  latterly  at  a  flat  in  Victoria  Street,  of  which 
one  might  say,  as  Sir  George  Trevelyan  says  of  Macaulay's 
apartment  in  the  Albany,  that  it  was  '  all  library.'  He 
spent  a  great  deal  of  time  at  clubs,  '  The  Devonshire  '  being 
his  favourite  resort.  Here  he  entertained  his  friends  con- 
stantly and  most  hospitably ;  and,  when  the  party  was  to 
include  ladies,  he  gave  it  at  the  Albemarle,  where  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gladstone  were  often  among  his  guests.^  When  he 
wished  to  join  the  Athenaeum,  he  asked  Matthew  Arnold  to 
second  him,  and  Arnold's  reply  must  be  given — '  I  know 
my  countrymen,  and  can  assure  you  that  what  they  like 
is  "  a  swell  "  ;  Lord  Granville  or  Lord  Spencer  would  be, 
therefore,  much  more  valuable  seconders  than  I.  But 
if,  after  this  warning,  you  still  prefer  to  take  me  as  your 
seconder,  I  am  quite  at  your  service.' 

For  his  autumn  hoHdays,  MacColl  generally  gravitated 
towards  Scotland,  where  he  took  delight  in  salmon-fishing. 
A  good  deal  of  his  correspondence  is  dated  from  great 
country  houses ;  he  often  went  yachting  with  such  close 
friends  as  Lord  and  Lady  Waterford  and  Mrs.  Meynell- 
Ingram  ;  and  he  made  rapid  journeys  to  the  Riviera,  Geneva, 
Italy,  Greece,  Russia,  and  Palestine.  His  circle  of  acquaint- 
ances was  extremely  wide,  and  included  a  good  many 
people  with  whom  he  had  neither  ecclesiastical  nor  poUtical 

'  One  occasion  his  guests  were — ilr.  Gladstone,  Count  Herbert  Bismarck, 
Lord  Rosebery,  Sir  William  Harcourt.  Mr.  Casscls,  and  Mr.  Cashel-Hoey ; 
another,  Lord  Bath,  Mr.  Bret  Harte,  j\Ir.  Holmau  Hunt,  JNIr.  Browning,  Mr.  Felix 
Moscheles,  and  the  writer  of  Little  Lord  Fauntlercy — and  so  on. 


FRIENDSHIP  AND  HOME  237 

sympathy.  He  kept  masses  of  letters  and  notes  from  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  and  they  afford  amusing 
glimpses  of  his  social  life.  Delane  complains  that  people 
regard  him  as  an  '  otiose  person  '  who  can  dine  out  whenever 
he  Ukes ;  and,  in  reply  to  MacColl's  casual  observation  that 
September  is  the  '  dull  season  '  of  the  Times,  says  that 
it  seems  to  him  '  much  more  interesting,  amusing,  and 
instructive,  than  when  more  than  half  of  it  is  filled  with 
speeches,  most  of  which  may  justly  be  called  dull.'  Lord 
Rosebery  can  imagine  nothing  more  tempting  than 
MacColl's  invitation  to  dinner,  but  has  to  obey  a  Royal 
command  elsewhere.  Lord  Bath  is  delighted  by  a  '  most 
pleasant '  dinner  at  the  Flat,  and  finds  that  '  a  lift  makes  a 
London  apartment  habitable.'  Sir  William  Harcourt  hopes 
that  MacColl  will  attend  Mr.  Lewis  Harcourt's  wedding,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  '  incense  will  not  be  used  ceremoniall5^' 
E.  A.  Freeman  is  passing  through  London,  and  would  like 
to  see  MacColl,  only  '  it  is  hopeless  ever  to  think  of  finding 
anybody  in  the  howling  wilderness  which  we  call  a 
"  Metropolis."  '  MacColl's  '  picture  of  the  cathedral  close  ' 
attracts  Mr.  John  Morley  to  Ripon.  Browning  writes 
enthusiastically  of  MacColl's  '  goodness  '  in  asking  him  to 
dinner : 

'  Nothing  can  be  kinder  nor  more  pleasant  than  your 
invitation — which,  notwithstanding,  T  am  obliged  to  give 
up  the  hope  of  accepting.  I  go  at  the  end  of  the  week  to 
the  North  of  Italy,  and  am  unable  to  dispose  of  an  hour 
in  the  meantime.' 

John  Bright  is  characteristically  conscientious  : 

'  The  Wednesday  and  Thursday  of  the  days  you  mention 
are  already  engaged,  and  I  am  to  dine  with  Mr.  Lefevre, 
and  Sir  A.  Hayter.  The  other  days  are  days  on  which 
the  House  sits,  and  I  have  been  forced  to  make  a  rule  not 
to  make  engagements  for  those  days — for  I  cannot  with 
propriety,  or  justice  to  our  Chief,  absent  myself  whilst 
business    of  importance   is   going   on.      I   must  therefore 


238  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

ask  you  to  excuse  me  if  I  am  anable  to  accept  your  kind 
invitation — under  other  circumstances  I  should  gladly  have 
joined  your  party  at  the  Devonshire  Club.' 

In  the  midst  of  a  life  thus  agreeably  diversified,  MacColl, 
suddenly,  as  it  would  seem,  turned  his  thoughts  in  a  very 
different  direction.  On  February  6,  1897,  he  wrote  as 
follows  to  Gladstone  : 

'  You  have  always  been  so  good  and  kind  to  me  that  I 
don't  like  to  take  any  serious  step  in  life  without  consulting 
you.  What  do  you  say  to  my  joining  the  Cowley  Brother- 
hood ?  I  feel  sometimes  so  dreadfully  lonely  that  I  find  work 
of  any  kind  a  hard  pull  against  the  collar  ;  and  I  have 
sometimes  thought  that  I  could  do  more  good  living  in  a 
Brotherhood.  Of  course  there  is  the  risk  of  my  finding 
it  hard  to  adapt  myself,  at  my  time  of  life,  to  the  mode  of 
living  under  new  conditions.  But  living  part  of  the  year  in 
chambers,  and  another  part  of  the  year  managing  a  house- 
hold, with  a  fresh  staff  of  servants  each  year,  is  so  trying, 
at  least  to  me.' 

The  purport  of  Gladstone's  reply  to  this  surprising 
suggestion  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  letters.  On 
February  18  MacColl  returned  to  the  subject : 

'  I  wrote  to  Father  X.  at  the  same  time  that  I  wrote 
to  you,  and  I  enclose  his  answer.  It  is  very  much  on  the 
same  line  as  yours.  So  I  will  do  nothing  for  the  present. 
Perhaps  I  may  some  day  have  an  opportunity  of  talking 
to  you  about  it. 

'  As  to  marriage,  the  fact  is  that  I  don't  think  any 
woman  for  whom  I  care  would  be  likely  to  care  for  me. 
I  have  so  little  of  any  kind  to  offer  ;  and  I  should  shrink 
from  the  presumption  of  asking  any  woman  to  marry  me 
unless  I  felt  quite  sure  that  she  was  inchned  that 
way.  I  have  no  other  objection  to  marrying ;  and  I 
dare  say  I  should  be  more  happy  that  way  than  in  any 
other.' 


FRIENDSHIP  AND  HOME  239 

Here  is  Father  X.'s  answer  : 

'  Febritary  9,  1897.— I  must  begin  by  apologizing  for 
having  left  your  letter  so  long  unanswered,  but  I  have  been 
away  from  home,  and  did  not  get  back  until  late  last 
night. 

'  It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  receive  your  letter,  and  to 
feel  that  you  were  ready,  if  it  seemed  to  be  God's  will,  to 
give  up  your  present  mode  of  life,  which,  I  should  suppose, 
has  many  attractions  for  you,  and  to  take  the  humble 
position  of  a  Postulant  here. 

'  I  think  'that,  at  your  age,  it  will  need  a  very  clear 
call  from  God  manifesting  unmistakably  His  wiU  that  you 
should  come  to  us,  before  it  would  be  wise  to  take  such 
a  step. 

'  When  one  has  been  in  the  sacred  ministry  more  than 
thirty  years,^  as,  I  think,  you  have,  it  is  not  an  easy  thing 
to  uproot  oneself  and,  so  to  speak,  to  begin  life  over  again, 
and  to  take  upon  oneself  the  yoke  of  the  novitiate  in  a 
religious  community. 

'  I  do  not  doubt  that  God  might  see  good  reasons  why 
in  particular  cases  a  man  of  your  age  might  need  such  a 
transplanting,  but  I  feel  sure  that  He  would  then  make 
His  will  perfectly  clear,  and  would  call  you  with  a  very 
unmistakable  call. 

'  Whether  He  has  done  so,|I  cannot  say.  If  He  has, 
I  feel  sure  that  your  way  would  be  made  clear  for  you, 
and  that  we  should  welcome  you. 

*  In  the  meanwhile,  would  it  not  be  possible  for  you  to 
pay  us  a  visit  here  ?  If  you  were  to  spend  a  week  here 
some  time  in  Lent,  you  would  see  something  of  our  ways, 
and  you  would  have  a  quiet  time  to  yourself.  I  should 
recommend  not  coming  in  Holy  Week,  because  so  many 
of  the  Fathers  and  senior  Novices  go  away  to  give  courses 
of  sermons  in  various  places  during  that  week,  so  that  you 
would  hardly  see  anything  of  us.  But,  if  you  were  to  come 
any  time  between  Ash  Wednesday  and  Passion  Sunday,  a 
cell  would  be  ready  for  you.' 

'  It  was  really  more  than  forty. 


240  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Happily,  the  counsels  of  common-sense  prevailed.  Mac- 
Coll  had  surrendered  his  will  to  what  he  thought  might  be 
a  Divine  call ;  but,  having  satisfied  himself  that  it  was 
nothing  more  than  a  feeling  of  restlessness  engendered  by 
loneliness  and  despondency,  he  returned  to  the  line  of  life 
which  naturally  fitted  him.  In  the  event,  his  self-surrender 
was  not  unrewarded.  In  1904  he  was  married  to  Consuelo 
Albinia,  youngest  daughter  of  Maj or- General  W.  H.  Cromp- 
ton-Stansfield,  of  Esholt  Hall,  Yorkshire  ;  and  so  at  length 
attained  to  the  happiness  of  a  home.  Marriage  rather 
extended  than  contracted  the  range  of  his  hospitalities, 
though  the  scene  of  them  was  now  transferred  from  Club- 
land to  the  pleasant  house  in  Beaufort  Gardens  where  he 
and  Mrs.  MacColl  had  established  themselves.  All  his  old 
friends  delighted  in  his  increased  happiness,  and  some  of 
his  brightest  hours  were  passed  in  visits,  with  his  wife,  to 
the  houses  where  he  had  so  long  been  an  habitual  and  a 
welcome  guest. 

The  only  shadow  on  the  scene  was  cast  by  failing  health. 
MacColl  had  been  blessed  by  nature  with  a  constitution  of 
extraordinary  vigour,  which  he  had  taxed  to  the  uttermost 
by  incessant  labour,  generally  against  time,  and  by  a 
complete  self-forgetfulness  as  to  ease  and  comfort.  More 
than  once  he  had  paid  the  inevitable  penalty.  His  letters 
mention  one  definite  attack  of  rheumatic  fever,  and  more 
than  one  recurrence  of  similar  trouble.  A  still  graver 
illness  overtook  him  in  the  summer  of  1892,  when  travelling 
in  Greece.  He  thus  described  it  in  a  letter  to  Lord 
Salisbury  : 

'  In  a  long  journey  from  Athens  to  Olympia  to  see  the 
discoveries  made  at  Olympia,  I  had  to  pass,  thinly  clad, 
through  a  great  oak  forest  and  a  malarious  plain  with 
a  range  of  snow-clad  mountains  near  the  railway,  and 
I  caught  a  chill,  whic?i  rapidly  developed  into  a  Avasting 
dysentery  and  raging  fever.  Still  I  went  on  ten  miles  (to 
Olympia)  the  following  day,  and  was  carried  to  the  museum 
and  propped  up  in  a  chair  to  feast  my  soul  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  on  that  wonderful  Hermes  of  Praxiteles.     There 


FRIENDSHIP  AND  HOME  241 

I  had  to  make  a  long  journey  back  to  Patras  where  I  was 
carried  aboard  Lord  Waterford's  yacht  more  dead  than 
ahve.  I  could  get  no  proper  medical  aid  till  I  reached 
Naples  five  days  afterwards,  delayed  by  a  gale.  I  am 
reduced  to  a  skeleton,  but  I  shall  soon  recover  my  strength, 
please  God.' 

He  attributed  his  recovery  in  great  measure  to  the 
good  offices  of  Lady  Waterford,-*^  concerning  whom  he  wrote 
to  Gladstone  : 

'  You  know  that  she  stayed  at  Naples  to  nurse  me — 
with  her  husband's  glad  permission — when  the  doctors 
gave  me  up,  although  she  had  then  been  eight  months 
absent  from  her  children.  The  sunshine  of  her  presence, 
the  music  of  her  voice,  her  tender  tactful  sympathy  did 
more  for  me  than  all  the  doctors.  I  have  never  known 
such  unselfishness  as  hers,  not  simply  in  its  self-forget- 
fulness,  but,  most  of  all,  in  its  brightness  and  charm  and 
grace.' 

But  the  immediately  succeeding  years  were,  as  we  have 
seen,  more  than  usually  full  of  anxious  and  exhausting 
work  ;  and  in  1899  the  machine  again  gave  trouble.  Writing 
from  Bad  Nauheim  on  July  17,  he  said  : 

'  I  have  been  sent  hurriedly  to  this  place  by  my  London 
doctor  who  discovered  a  fortnight  ago  the  development  of 
some  heart-complaint.  The  late  Sir  Andrew  Clark  told 
me  ten  years  ago  that  I  had  some  functional  weakness  of 
the  heart,  but  nothing  organically  wrong  ;  and  my  London 
doctor  examined  me  eight  months  ago  and  said  that  my 
heart  was  quite  sound.  The  specialist  now  says  that  I  am 
suffering  from  heart-dilatation,  which  may  be  cured,  and 
also  from  valvular  insufficiency,  which  cannot  be  cured, 
though  my  life  may  be  prolonged  with  care. 

'  He  attributes  it  to  too  much  brain-pressure,  and, 
when  I  told  him  of    the  high-pressure  speed  with  which 

^    Lady    Blanche    Elizabeth    Adelaide    Somerset    married    in    1874    the 
5th  Marquess  of  Waterford,  and  died  in  1897. 


242  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

I  wrote  my  recent  book,^  he  said  that  that  would  account 
for  it. 

'  But  if  my  effort  has  in  any  way  helped  to  clear  away 
some  ignorance  and  prejudice,  I  ought  not  to  regret  its 
consequences  to  myself.' 

MacCoU  returned  from  Nauheim  in  greatly  improved 
health,  and  there  were  no  outward  signs  of  serious  mischief. 
He  resumed,  though  perhaps  rather  less  strenuously,  his 
usual  occupations,  and  did  not  lay  them  aside  even  when 
marriage  brought  new  interests  into  his  hfe.  It  was  a 
pleasing  incident  that  in  March  1906  the  King  of  the 
Hellenes,  in  recognition  of  MacColl's  lifelong  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  Greece,  conferred  on  him  the  Cross  of  the 
Order  of  the  Redeemer. 

The  General  Election  of  1906  gave  an  overwhelming 
majority  to  the  Liberals,  and  the  first  Session  of  the  new 
Parliament  was  devoted  to  a  well-meant  but  ill-drawn 
Education  Bill,  which  the  Lords,  without  much  ceremony, 
rejected.  The  Liberals  felt  the  time  had  come  to  try 
conclusions  with  the  House  which  had  so  often  defeated  or 
deferred  reforms ;  and  some  of  the  more  eager  spirits 
called  aloud  for  the  aboUtion  of  the  Second  Chamber. 
This  view  did  not  commend  itself  to  MacColl,  and  on 
the  evening  of  April  4,  1907,  he  wrote  fifteen  pages  of 
a  memorandum  on  the  disadvantages  of  government 
by  a  single  chamber.  He  took  for  his  text  the  ques- 
tion once  asked  by  Mr.  John  Morley  ^  about  the  House 
of  Lords —  '  Shall  we  mend  it,  or  end  it  ?  ' — and  he 
declared  unequivocally  for  mending.  The  manuscript  lies 
before  me  as  I  write.  The  handwriting,  always  clear  and 
graceful  though  extremely  rapid,  shows  no  sign  of  impair- 
ment ;  and  the  memorandum,  though  only  a  fragment, 
displays  all  the  habitual  vigour  of  thought  and  phrase. 

That  night  MacColl  lay  down  to  rest  in  his  usual  health, 
but  next  morning,  while  he  was  dressing,  the  mischief 
latent  in  the  heart  became  acute,  and  in  a  few  minutes  all 

^  The  Reformation  Settlement. 

'^  Afterwards  Lord  Morley  of  Blackburn, 


FRIENDSHIP  AND  HOME  243 

was  over.  He  was  buried  at  Kirkby  Overblow,  near  Ripon, 
on  April  10,  the  Bishops  of  Ripon  and  Knaresborough,  the 
Dean  of  Ripon,  and  the  Rev.  Stephen  Gladstone,  officiating  ; 
and  a  Memorial  Service  was  held  at  St.  Saviour's,  Chelsea, 
on  the  same  day.  In  the  Chapel  of  St.  Wilfrid,  in  the 
north  choir-aisle  of  Ripon  Cathedral,  there  stands  an  altar 
with  the  name  of  Malcolm  MacCoU  inscribed  at  the  foot— 
'  the  gift,  for  his  sake,  of  friends  who  desire  to  preserve 
his  memory  within  the  walls  where  his  presence  was  so 
often  seen  and  where  the  echoes  of  his  voice  have  hardly 
yet  passed  into  silence.' 


Life  !  we've  been  long  together, 

Through  pleasant  and  through  cloudy  weather  ; 

'Tis  hard  to  part  when  friends  are  dear  ; 

Perhaps  't  ^\'ill  cost  a  sigh,  a  tear  ; 

Then  steal  away,  give  little  warning. 

Choose  thine  o^^■n  time  ; 

Say  not  Good  night,  but  in  some  brighter  climo 

Bid  me  Good  morning. 

A.  L    Barbauld 


&2 


CHAPTER   XI 

CORRESPONDENCE 

I  can  imagine  no  more  conclusive  proof  of  excellence  in  letters  than  that 
they  disclose  the  character  of  the  recipient  as  well  as  of  the  author. 

Herbert  Paul. 

The  letters  inserted  in  the  preceding  chapters  will  have 
given  the  reader  some  notion  of  MacColl's  peculiar  position 
as  the  confidential  adviser  of  statesmen  on  both  sides  in 
politics.  They  form,  however,  only  a  small  fraction  of 
this  enormous  correspondence.  He  was  himself  a  most 
indefatigable  letter-writer,  and  many  of  those  with  whom 
he  habitually  corresponded  were  equally  copious  in  reply. 
The  exigencies  of  space  forbid  more  than  a  selection  from 
the  mass  of  letters  entrusted  to  my  care  ;  but  in  making  that 
selection  I  have  tried  to  show  the  range  and  variety  of 
MacColl's  friendships,  and  the  high  regard  in  which  he  was 
held  by  men  of  very  different  types  and  schools. 

At  this  point  it  may  be  well  to  record  the  fact  that 
MacCoU  numbered  among  his  correspondents  members,  and 
even  heads,  of  more  than  one  of  the  reigning  houses  of  Europe  ; 
but,  for  obvious  reasons,  the  letters  which  he  received  from 
these  royal  personages  must  be  %vithheld  from  publication. 


The  begirming  of  MacColl's  intimacy  with  Gladstone 
has  been  noted  in  the  memoir  ;  its  growth  and  development 
are  illustrated  by  the  letters  here  subjoined. 

11  Carlton  House  Terrace,  February  16,  1864. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — I  return  the  correspondence  between 
Dr.  Newman  and  Mr.  Kingsley,  with  many  thanks.     It  is 

244 


GLADSTONE  245 

abundantly  but  not  pleasantly  interesting.  It  is  mis- 
managed, I  venture  to  think,  on  the  side  of  Mr.  Kingsley : 
on  the  side  of  Mr.  Newman  it  leaves  with  me  a  rather  painful 
impression,  which^I  had  not  anticipated. 

'  Nothing  can  be  more  unfortunate  than  his  repeated 
reference  to  the  Sermon  as  a  "  Protestant  Sermon." 

'  I  remain, 

'  Very  faithfully  yours, 

'W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

11  Carlton  House  Terrace,  June  21,  1865. 

'My  Dear  Sir, — In  thanldng  you  yesterday  for  what 
you  had  so  modestly  announced  as  a  pamphlet  I  was  not 
a. ware  of  the  manner  and  degree  in  which,  in  the  character 
of  "  Scrutator,"  you  had  laid  me  under  obligation. 

'  I  must  not  speak  of  the  opinions  you  have  expressed, 
for  they  are  far  too  favourable  to  me  ;  but  I  may  do  justice 
to  the  remarkable  talent  you  have  displayed  in  the  method 
of  handling  the  subject.  It  reminds  me,  though  on  a 
widely  different  subject,  of  the  ability  which  struck  me  so 
much  in  the  first  letter  which  I  ever  had  the  pleasure  to 
receive  from  you. 

'I  remain,  my  dear  Sir,  with  many  thanks  for  your 
generous  appreciation  and  your  able  effort, 

'  Very  faithfully  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone,' 

Hawarden,  August  6,  1865. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — My  acquaintance  with  you  for  some 
years  has  given  me  a  high  idea  of  your  abilities  as  a  writer, 
of  your  knowledge  and  skill  in  subjects  belonging  to  your 
sacred  profession,  and  of  your  open  mind  and  liberal 
opinions  ;  and  I  can  well  believe  that  you  would  discharge 
in  the  most  efficient  manner  the  duties  of  an  Inspector  of 
Schools.  You  are  quite  welcome  to  use  this  note,  if  you 
should  think  fit,  by  way  of  testimonial. 

'  I  have  had  occasion  thankfully  to  acknowledge  the 
aid  of  your  pen,  rendered  with  great  ability,  in  regard  to  the 

^  Newman's  sennon  on  '  Wisdom  and  Innocence,'  preached  while  he  was 
Vicar  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin,  Oxford. 


246  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Oxford  Election,  but  I  do  not  think  it  has  biassed  my 
opinion  :  I  should  readily  have  rendered  the  same  testimony 
before  that  aid  was  given. 

'  I  remain,  my  dear  Sir, 
'  Faithfully  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

11  Carlton  House  Terrace,  S.W.,  June  3,  1866. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — I  have  read  with  great  interest  Dr. 
Newman's  Review  of  '  Ecce  Homo  '  in  the  Month.  The 
laudatory  part  of  it  appears  to  me  admirable.  With  a 
riper  and  more  practised  mind  (I  think)  than  the  author, 
he  draws  out  the  author's  thought,  with  a  fineness  and 
clearness  greater  than  any  ^vith  which  the  author  had 
himself  presented  it  to  his  own  consciousness. 

'  I  also  go  along  with  part  of  the  rebukes  administered. 
But  part  seems  to  me  needless  and  misplaced.  I  do  not 
see  why  Dr.  N.  assumes  that  the  writer  attacks  the  Church  of 
Rome.  He  may  mean  it,  but  that  construction  was  hardly 
necessary.  In  another  point  I  withhold  sympathy  from 
the  review,  but  not  on  the  author's  behalf.  Dr.  N.  seems 
to  think  that  no  one  but  a  Roman  Catholic  can  duly  com- 
bine the  reciprocal  and  joint  testimonies  of  Scripture  and  the 
Church,  or  the  great  stream  of  Christian  History  and  Tradi- 
tion. I  am  sure  he  thinks  so  or  he  would  not  have  written 
thus.  This  reminds  me  how,  when  that  beautiful  Apologia 
came  out  people  said,  "  You  see  Dr.  Newman  never  was  a 
Churchman  properly  so  called  "  ;  and  how  twenty-five  years 
ago  I  read  with  astonishment  an  article  of  his  in  the  British 
Critic  with  a  defence  of  the  Church  of  England  founded  upon 
principles  that  seemed  to  me  weak  and  strange.  And  why 
does  he  talk  of  the  necessity  of  sacrificing  private  judgment  ? 
Can  there  be  such  a  thing  in  a  well-constituted  mind  ? 
Is  it  not  this,  that  our  private  judgment  teaches  us  to 
recognize  the  higher  authority  where  the  evidence  of  its  title 
is  clear,  and  consequently  that  in  following  it  we  do  not 
abdicate  but  really  obey  the  faculties  which  God  has  given 
for  the  guidance  of  our  mind  and  conduct  ? 

'  Very  faithfidly  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


GLADSTONE  247 

Hawarden,  June  12,  1874. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  have  received  your  letter 
and  I  return  the  enclosure  ;  the  painful  subject  of  it  ^  brings 
me  many  letters.  I  knoAv  not  what  to  say  of  a  measure 
which  seems  to  shift  its  ground  eventually  every  time  it  is 
discussed.  The  arrow  rightly  aimed  may  miss  if  the  target 
is  removed  after  it  has  left  the  bow.  I  expect,  however,  to 
be  in  London  next  week,  and  I  shall  not  fail,  please  God, 
duly  to  attend  to  the  Bill  when  it  reaches  the  House  of 
Commons. 

'  I  have  not  read  a  great  deal  in  the  Liberal  or  any  other 
Press  lately  ;  this  has  been  a  main  article  of  my  relief. 
But,  as  regards  the  Liberal  party,  the  clergy  can  hardly 
expect  much  from  them  in  the  way  of  aid  against  their 
own  Bishops. 

'  I  thought  it  seemed  imprudent  in  the  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln 2  to  mix  this  case  wdth  that  of  the  strange  Bill  relating 
to  Church  Patronage  in  Scotland.  It  will  be  much  more 
imprudent  if  the  Churchpeople  mix  their  cause  with  that 
of  the  Roman  Bishops  in  Germany.  Both  parties  in  a 
quarrel  may  be  wrong  :  but  their  Bishops  have,  in  my 
opinion,  by  subscribing  to  the  Vatican  decrees,  assumed 
a  position  inconsistent  with  full  allegiance,  and  with  civil 
right. 

'  Most  truly  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


Hawarden  Castle,  August  22,  187G. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  very  glad  you  and 
Canon  Liddon  are  going. ^ 

'  I  enclose  a  letter  asking  Sir  A.  Buchanan  to  give  his 
aid  in  directing  you  to  the  best  quarters  for  information. 
I  could  do  the  same  to  Sir  H.  Elhot  if  you  were  going  to 
Constantinople.  (I  cannot  comprehend  his  conduct  in  some 
particulars  but  I  pause  before  condemning  him.)  At 
Belgrade  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  know  no  one. 

'  I  am  afraid  I  must  say  "  Beware  of  Nardi," 

'  The  r.W.R.  Bill.  -  C.  Wordsworth.  •'  To  Servia. 


248  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  The  Pope's  game  with  the  Turk  is  I  suspect  even  deeper 
than  you  imagine. 

'  Perhaps  you  know  that  a  few  years  ago  he  robbed  the 
Armenian  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  its  right  to  elect 
its  Bishops.  A  number  of  its  members,  they  say  the  large 
majority,  resisted.  The  Pope  behaved  with  impartiality 
and  was  encouraged  by  us  (the  late  Government)  in  so  doing. 
My  belief  is  that  the  Porte  is  now  selling  the  Armenian 
rights  to  the  Pope  for  his  support  in  the  disturbed  provinces. 

'  If  you  like  to  call  at  73  Harley  Street,  and  show  this 
letter  'which  ivill  be  her  authority,  the  housekeeper  will  let 
you  see  all  Parliamentary  papers  delivered  for  me  this 
month  and  take  away  such  as  you  please.  The  older 
Turkish  papers  are  in  a  closet  on  the  north  side  of  the  room. 

'  When  do  you  go  ? 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden  Castle,  Chester,  August  11,  1877. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  thank  you  much  for  what 
you  have  told  me  about  Bishop  Moriarty  :  and  perhaps 
if  you  have  an  opportunity  you  would  kindly  at  some  time 
let  him  know  how  much  pleasure  it  would  give  me  if  next 
year  he  would  be  so  very  kind  as  to  announce  himself  on 
any  Thursday  for  breakfast  at  ten. 

'  From  what  you  say  of  him,  I  have  little  doubt  the  case 
is  the  same  with  Dr.  Russell  of  Maynooth. 

'  It  certainly  would  not  be  safe  to  put  aside,  as  a  thing 
out  of  the  question,  a  DisraeUtish  coup  during  the  recess. 
He  is  a  man  who  is  never  beaten.  Every  reverse,  every  defeat, 
is  to  him  only  an  admonition  to  wait  and  catch  his  oppor- 
tunity of  retrieving,  and  more  than  retrieving,  his  position. 

'I  have  written  to  the  Daily  Neivs  suggesting  for 
consideration  whether  they  could  not  move  the  Liberals 
who  have  taken  a  prominent  and  more  or  less  independent 
part  on  the  question  to  estabhsh  an  understanding  before 
the  Prorogation  with  a  view  to  such  a  contingency. 

*  Yours  sincerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


GLADSTONE  249 

Hawarden,  December  21,  1877. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — The  position  is  indeed  a 
singular  one.  All  that  flourish  of  trumpets  which  preceded 
the  late  Cabinet  was  never  intended  to  usher  in  a  mere 
announcement  about  Parliament  meeting  on  the  17th.  A 
greater  plan  has  been  proposed  and  rejected.  This  is  a 
compromise.  Will  it  be  followed  by  a  proposal  for  men 
and  money  ?  Will  it  at  once  encourage  the  Turks  to  hold 
out  ?  I  fear  both  the  one  and  the  other.  Ought  we  to 
take  steps  in  resistance,  and  when  ?  To  one  thing  only 
I  see  my  wa}'^  at  this  moment — wherever  there  is  a  Press 
in  our  sense,  it  ought  in  the  strongest  and  plainest  language 
to  declare  that  neither  in  war  nor  in  warlike  measures  will 
we  acquiesce,  but  will  to  the  best  of  our  ability  stir  the 
country  upon  those  issues. 

'  I  return  Froude's  letter,  an  excellently  staunch  one,  and 
the  loathsome  epistle  from  a  Jew.  I  was  in  hopes  I  was 
the  only  person  on  whom  ordure  of  this  kind  was  discharged. 
Nothing  can  more  painfully  exhibit  the  nature  of  the  cause, 
than  that  it  should  stir  up  such  advocacy. 

'  Yours  very  faithfully, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


Ha  warden,  September  30,  1878. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — Thanks  for  your  letter.  I  have 
not  seen  the  Times,  for  I  do  not  find  it  pay  to  read  that 
journal.  I  must  own  that  neither  does  it  pay  at  present 
to  read  the  articles  of  the  Daily  News  ;  and  I  have  just 
been  writing  to  a  gentleman  who  has  relations  with  it  to 
ask  him  whether  it  has  gone  stark  mad. 

'  I  am  not  often  made  unhappy  by  criticisms,  but  the 
criticisms  of  my  American  article,^  in  the  passage  which  said 
that  at  a  future  time  our  commercial  primacy  might  and 
probably  would  pass  on,  did  make  me  rather  unhappy.  I 
did  not  before  know  that  the  mind  of  any  set  of  Englishmen 
had  fallen  into  a  state  of  such  contemptible  effeminacy. 
I  said  more  in  1866  when  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons, 

*  '  Kin  beyond  Sea,'  in  the  North  American  Revieto, 


250  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

and  I  believe  without  the  slightest  objection.  Those  were 
not  very  good  times,  but  the  country  had  not  then  had 
five  years  of  Lord  B.'s  primacy, 

'  I  learn  that  Cairns  has  or  is  to  have  an  estate  left 
him  :  and  he  has,  I  imagine,  deserved  a  reward  for  intense, 
unflinching  support  of  his  leader  in  the  Cabinet. 

'  Yours  most  faithfully, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  October  13,  1878. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — The  Duke  of  Argyll  is  actually 
here  and  goino;  to-morrow.  He  would  much  have  liked  to 
meet  Lord  Bath  for  whom  he  has  a  great  respect.  I  am  sure 
my  wife  has  told  Lady  Bath,  if  not  Lord  Bath,  how  very 
welcome  they  would  be  here,  but  it  seems  a  strong  measure 
to  ask  them  at  any  particular  time  to  come  so  far.  I  will, 
however,  bear  in  mind  your  considerate  suggestion. 

'  The  truth  is  I  have  felt  deeply  for  Lord  Bath  in  this 
business  without  feeling  that  I  had  a  right  to  assure  him 
of  my  sympathy.  I  feel  a  scruple  about  appearing  to  fish 
indirectly  for  the  political  aid  of  a  man  of  his  mark  and 
standing  who  has  been  so  upright  and  loyal  a  Party  man. 
His  position  is  one  of  great  difficulty.  The  instrument  of 
Party  is  indispensable  for  working  out  our  pubhc  duty, 
but  it  brings  us  at  times  into  sore  dilemmas. 

'  Since  I  last  heard  from  you  I  have  read  your  article 
in  the  Oentlemari's  Magazine.  Sir  H.  Layard  should  have 
it  answered  if  he  can.  That  passage  about  the  subsidy 
from  our  Consul  is  a  most  awkward  one,  and  I  suppose 
the  matter  cannot  rest  where  it  is. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  November  7,  1879. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  thank  you  for  your  sugges- 
tion about  Lord  and  Lady  Bath,  and  I  have  at  once  written 
it  to  my  wife  who  has  not  yet  joined  me.  I  should  be 
greatly  pleased  to  see  Lord  Bath  join  the  Liberal  party  : 
but  I  always  feel  a  particular  scruple  in  doing  anything 


GLADSTONE  251 

which  might  seem  like  a  desire  to  turn  to  political  account 
the  manly,  philanthropic,  and  Christian-like  feeling  he  has 
shown  in  the  Eastern  Question. 

'  I  am  glad  to  find  that  I  have  unconsciously  imposed 
upon  you  as  to  my  personal  estimate  of  Lord  Beaconsfield. 
I  have  always  felt  there  were  special  reasons  for  reserve  in 
expressing  my  feehngs  and  judgment  about  him — of  which 
the  principal  are,  the  manner  in  which  we  have  been  pitted 
against  one  another,  and  the  very  peculiar  features  of  his 
career  and  character.  That  these  ought  to  be  fully  before 
the  public  I  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt :  but  I  think  the 
matter  to  be  one  on  which  it  is  not  well  for  me  to  enter.  He 
probably  would  get  less  than  justice  at  my  hands,  though 
I  should  not  be  intentionally  unjust  towards  him.  Of 
one  thing  I  am  sure  :  it  will  take  a  long  time  to  rid  EngUsh 
pontics  of  the  odour  which  he  will  have  left  upon  them. 
You  will  doubtless  consider  well,  if  you  Avrite,  the  question 
of  Name  or  No  Name.  There  is  something  to  be  said  both 
ways.  I  rather  think  that,  were  I  doing  a  thing  of  that 
sort,  I  should  not  affix  my  name,  but  I  would  make  no 
secret  about  my  authorship,  as  Hay  ward  generally  tells 
what  article  he  has  written  in  the  Quarterly. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

'  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  they  have  not  in  the  Scotch 
Episcopal  Church  a  preacher  who  could  turn  to  account 
the  opening  afforded  by  the  new  Cathedral  in  Edinburgh. 
Surely  this  void  might  be  filled.' 

Hawarden,  December  13,  1879. 

'  Dear   Mr.    MacColl, — The    whole    Scotch    journey 

was  wonderful,  and  really  beyond  description.     I  always 

thought    it   would    be    a    serious  affair :     something    like 

Lancashire  in  1868,  or  in  some  respects  a  little  beyond. 

But  my  expectations  were  left  behind,  at  an  immeasurable 

distance.  ,  „ 

'  Yours  smcerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


252  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

10  Downing  Street,  March  27,  1881. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — You  will  have  conceived  and 
represented  the  idea  I  tried  to  convey  to  you  on  Sunday  last 
better  than  I  can  explain  it  on  paper  ;  yet  I  am  not  easy 
without  writing  a  few  words  to  help  in  making  the  record. 

'  What  I  want  to  have,  as  the  basis  of  Palmer's  work,  is 
a  setting  forth,  according  to  the  methods  which  theological 
science  provides,  of  the  Civitas  Dei,  the  city  set  on  a  hill, 
the  pillar  and  ground  of  truth,  the  Catholic  and  Apostohc 
Church,  the  Vorsetzung  der  Fleischiverdung ,  exhibited,  not 
as  against  Nonconformists,  nor  even  principally  as  against 
the  aggressive  Church  of  Rome,  but  as  a  positive  dispen- 
sation, a  form  divinely  given  to  the  religious  idea,  Avhich 
challenges  with  authority,  but  agreeably  to  reason,  the 
assent  of  the  rational  and  right-minded  man,  in  competi- 
tion with  all  the  other  claimants  on  that  assent.  I  want 
some  solid  scientific  work  which  shall  set  up  historical  or 
institutional  Christianity  to  take  its  chance  in  that  melee 
of  systems,  dogmatic  and  undogmatic,  revealed  and  un- 
revealed,  particularist,  pagan,  secular,  antitheistic,  or  others, 
which  marks  the  age. 

'  Having  spent  fifty  years  of  adult  life  in  this  melee, 
I  find  the  method  I  describe  the  most  rational  of  all,  and 
I  wish  that  there  should  be  a  text-book  of  it  for  the  help 
of  doubtful  or  uninstructed  minds.  x\lso  that  this  text- 
book, founded  on  the  principle  I  have  described,  should 
apply  the  principle,  for  the  benefit  of  Englishmen,  to  the  case 
of  the  English  Church,  under  the  shadow  of  which  our  lot  is 
providentially  cast. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden  Castle,  October  18,  1882. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  have  to  acknowledge  your 
letter  and  I  return  the  inclosure.  Both  are  very  interest- 
ing. But  the  Green  affair  is  moving  so  far  as  I,  or  as  the 
Chancellor,  can  make  it  move.^     I  hope  the  scandal  and 

1  The  Rev.  S.  F.  Green,  Vicar  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  Miles  Platting, 
was  now  in  prison  under  the  P.W.R.  Act. 


GLADSTONE  253 

dishonour  are  near  their  end,  but  I  have  no  positive  know- 
ledge. Much  good  may  be  the  ultimate  result  which  Mr. 
Green  may  have  purchased  for  the  Church  in  ways  he  may 
not  have  dreamed  of. 

'  But  I  have  other  matters  to  touch.  Weeks  ago  I  told 
Dr.  Dollinger  what  I  knew  and  thought  of  the  plan  for 
the  republication  of  Palmer,  and  expressed  the  hope  that 
his  aid  if  required  would  be  forthcoming.  He  remained 
silent,  and  I  could  not  be  surprised,  for  I  had  touched  a 
formidable  subject.  However,  I  had  from  him  yesterday 
afternoon  a  long  letter  on  many  subjects.  Among  them 
he  gives  a  marked  place  to  the  republication  of  Palmer's 
book.  He  has  stated  the  case  with  very  great  ability  in 
the  extract  which  I  send  you  herewith.  The  upshot  of  it 
I  take  to  be  that  he  thinks  a  very  heavy  labour  must  be 
performed  in  order  to  bring  the  book  up  to  the  demands 
of  the  period  ;  that  if  this  condition  can  be  satisfied  the 
republication  would  be  an  event  for  Christendom  ;  and  that 
he  is  ready  to  give  his  hearty  assistance,  if  such  a  person  as 
he  names  will  go  to  Munich  to  receive  it. 

'  All  this,  I  hope,  will  be  carefully  considered,  for 
although  time  is  of  importance  in  getting  out  the  work, 
it  is  still  more  material  that  it  should  be  thoroughly 
worthy  of  so  considerable  a  vocation  as  Dr.  Dollinger 
assigns  to  it. 

'  In  case  any  further  aid  should  be  desirable,  I  suggest 
these  names  for  consideration  : 

'  Rev.  R.  Jenkins,  Rector  of  Lynn. 

'  Rev.  W.  E.  Scudamore,  Author  of  "  England  and 
Rome." 

'  Rev.  Dr.  Nicholson,  who  worsted  Cardinal  Manning. 

'  And,  query  ?  Rev.  N.  Pococke — a  very  able  man, 
rather  given  to  railing  at  the  Reformation. 

'  I  am  due  in  London  on  Friday  for  Cabinet  and — 
alack  !  House  of  Commons. 

'  BeUeve  me, 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


254  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

10  Downing  Street,  June  30,  1884. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  return  Lord  Bath's  letter, 
reciprocating  all  his  kind  sentiments  and  sympathizing  with 
the  real  difficulties  of  his  position.  My  own  are  limited  by 
the  nearness  of  my  horizon. 

'  One  remark  only  will  I  offer.  His  son's  opinions  are, 
it  appears,  Conservative.  What  does  this  mean  ?  Is  it 
that  they  echo  the  current  notions  of  our  Public  Schools 
and  Universities,  or  is  it  that  he  has  read  and  considered 
the  recent  history  of  this  country,  and  that  he  regards 
Conservatism  as  that  which  has  brought  us  through  that 
history  safer  than  any  other  country,  and  stronger  by  far 
than  we  ever  were  before  ? 

'  The  same  statement  was  made  to  me  twenty  years 
back  by  a  Liberal  Peer,  who  asked  my  advice  about  his 
eldest  son.  Knowing  but  one  book  which  details  the 
political  history  of  the  last  half-century,  Erskine  May's 
"  Constitutional  History,"  I  recommended  the  father  to 
advise  its  perusal.  The  person  so  advised  read  the  book, 
and  has  ever  since  been  one  of  the  soberest,  but  firmest, 
of  Liberals. 

'  Why  do  I  thus  seem  to  throw  a  fly  ?  Simply  because 
I  fear  that,  in  the  absence  of  wise  guidance  for  the  House 
of  Lords,  conflicts  dangerous  to  it  may  lie,  not  indeed  in 
my  future,  but  in  a  future  by  no  means  distant. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

1  Richmond  Terrace,  July  6,  1885. 

'  My^';Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — 1.  I  am  sorry  for  the  great 
error  of  judgment  into  which,  as  it  would  appear  from  your 
account.  Bishop  Strossmayer  has  fallen.  He  wants  to  con- 
vert the  orthodox  Slavs  in  order  to  save  them  from  an 
extraneous  pohtical  influence.  This  is  exactly  the  poHcy 
pursued  by  England  towards  Ireland  for  so  long  a  time  and 
with  such  ruinous  effects.  That  a  wise  and  enhghtened 
Bishop  should  seek  to  renew  it,  after  the  warnings  of 
experience  for  200  years,  is  indeed  deplorable. 


GLADSTONE  255 

*  2.  I  am  delighted  with  your  account  of  Dr.  DolHnger's 
health  and  strength,  which  I  conceive  to  be  of  the  utmost 
importance.  But  do  not  let  him  argue  from  the  calm  and 
self-possession  of  his  life  to  the  tumult,  strife,  and  tension  of 
mine.  Give  me  his  outward  conditions,  and  I  then  accept 
all  his  reasoning. 

'  3.  With  regard  to  Palmer,  I  think  it  plain  that  it  would 
still  be  possible  to  publish  a  work  based  upon  Palmer's, 
as  Liddell  and  Scott  first  pubhshed  their  Lexicon  "  based 
upon  Passow." 

*  4.  But  I  do  not  know  how  far  you  have  looked  in  the 
face  the  question  of  material  means  for  the  execution  of  this 
work.  I  had  always  hoped  that  the  Ripon  Canonry  would 
improve  your  position  in  this  respect,  and  I  cannot  helj) 
feeling  happy  that  the  Bishop  has  decUned  to  accept  your 
resignation.  I  regret  that  I  cannot  carry  on  a  discussion 
of  this  question  with  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's.  My  head  and 
time  are  much  too  full  for  me  to  undertake  this  operative 
part. 

'  I  have  written  somewhat  hastily  to  answer  your  letter 
without  delay. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  September  26,  1885. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  shocked  to  find  that  you 
have  not  been  thanked  for  your  salmon.  Nothing  could 
exceed  its  claims  upon  our  acknowledgments  :  it  was  as  good 
as  good  could  be, 

'  About  Parliament  I  hardly  assume  more  at  present  than 
that  there  has  been  talk  in  the  Tory  party  on  the  method 
of  postponement.  Unless  they  are  even  more  anarchical 
than  I  suppose,  the  point  could  hardly  be  decided  without 
a  Cabinet,  and  there  has  been  none. 

'  I  view  the  Bulgarian  occurrences  with  mixed  feelings, 
glad  of  the  union  in  itself  but  fearful  lest  mischief  should 
come,  as  it  might  come  possibly — in  any  case  from  Turks, 
in  the  event  of  a  widening  of  the  sphere — from  Greeks, 


256  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Servians,    or    Austria    more    formidable    than    either   with 
Germany  at  her  back. 

'  You  will  probably  have  left  Aboyne,  but  if  this  finds 
you  there  pray  remember  us  kindly  to  your  host  and  hostess. 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  December  23,  1885. 

'My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  have  received  your 
interesting  letter. 

'  When  I  saw  you  I  was  not  aware  that  you  were  going 
to  see  or  communicate  with  Lord  Salisbury. 

'  However,  I  am  only  anxious  it  should  be  clearly 
understood  that,  while  you  stated  to  him  what  you  con- 
ceived to  be  the  manifest  purport  of  my  conversation 
with  you,  you  had  no  authority,  and  conveyed  no  message, 
from  me. 

'  Unless  you  are  quite  sure  that  Lord  S.  clearly  under- 
stands this,  I  beg  you  to  convey  it  to  him. 

'  I  say  nothing  adverse  to  the  accuracy  of  your  account. 
It  was  an  account  given  on  your  responsibility  of  what  you 
conceived  to  be  my  present  view.  Of  the  conditions  of  any 
measure  for  Ireland,  or  of  my  own  intentions  about  one, 
I  have  not  given  to  any  human  being  any  binding  indica- 
tion :  beyond  this  that,  if  the  Government  take  up  the 
question,  my  desire  is  to  give  them  the  best  aid  that  with 
a  reasonable  freedom  of  judgment  I  may. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  December  10,  1886. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — I  think  your  comments  on  the 
Unionist  declarations  very  just,  and  the  time  for  next 
breaking  my  silence  will  be  fixed  by  me,  not  by  Lord 
Hartington.  At  all  times  I  am  against  threats  and  violence, 
unhke  R.  Churchill,  who  leads  the  Government,  and  for 
law  and  order.  In  this  sense  some  colleagues  of  mine,  who 
have  speeches  in  prospect,  wiU,  I  think,  make  them,  but  so  as 


GLADSTONE  257 

not  to  let  o£E  the  Government.  As  to  Dillon,  I  learn  there 
are  hopes  that  he  will  retract  or  greatly  qualify,  as  without 
doubt  he  ought. 

'  I  do  not  think  the  Crown  can  cede  any  territory  that 
has  been  dealt  with  by  Statute  without  a  Statute  for  the 
purpose. 

'  I  hear  you  are  to  be  here  early  in  January  and  shall  be 
glad  of  a  word  on  Palmer's  book. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


18  James  Street,  S.W.,  May  20,  1889. 

'  My  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  most  willing  to  see 
you  ;  but  I  can  supply  beforehand  in  very  few  words  what 
I  have  to  say.^ 

'  The  only  rule  I  can  tolerate  is  stout  resistance  to  (what 
is  perhaps)  the  extremest  debasement  of  which  our  poor 
human  nature  is  susceptible.  A  debasement  which  I  can- 
not recollect  to  have  been  included,  or  at  least  avowed, 
among  the  refinements  of  vice  that  were  invented  by  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  the  Greek  and  Italian  Peninsulas  : 
and  which  I  beheve  multitudes  of  the  "  fallen  women  "  of 
London  would  repel  with  disgust. 

'  According  to  the  old  rule  "  corruptio  optimi  pessima," 
I  fear  that  the  last  developments  of  evil  in  this  branch  are 
worse  under  the  reign  of  Christianity  than  they  were  before 
the  Advent. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


Hawarden,  December  27,  1889. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — I  have  now  examined  books  of 
authority  as  to  the  permanence  of  sex.  Your  correspondent, 
I  think,  states  the  matter  with  great  ability,  though  I  hardly 

The  reference  is  to  Neo-Malthusianism. 


258  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

travel  with  him  all  the  way.  The  question  is  interesting, 
I  should  call  it  seductive,  for  my  inclination  and  judgment 
are  rather  to  this  effect — that,  knowing  nothing,  so  to  speak, 
of  the  thousands  upon  thousands  of  the  conditions  of  the 
new  existence  in  the  world  unseen,  I  ask  of  myself,  why 
this  also  should  not  be  allowed  to  remain  unexamined, 
and  whether  it  is  not  best  to  leave  the  solution  in  the 
hands  of  the  great  Father.  I  am  not,  then,  keen  upon  the 
scent. 

'  I  admit  that  some  arguments  against  the  permanence 
of  gender  may  seem  to  arise  from  its  original  absence, 
and  from  the  Darwinian  incidents  pointing  to  an  original 
unity. 

'  But  in  the  actual  development  is  included  a  distinction 
of  moral  and  spiritual  type.  The  man  and  the  woman  are 
not,  ought  not  to  be,  the  same.  And  the  law  of  nature  for 
each  is  to  be  built  up  and  corroborated,  by  the  vast  power  of 
habit,  in  its  own  type.  The  more  character  is  opened  and 
matured,  therefore,  the  more  I  should  expect  it  to  be 
differentiated,  and  the  distinctness  of  the  form  of  existence 
to  harden.  At  the  same  time,  not  only  is  each  the  supple- 
ment of  the  other,  but  each  may  borrow  and  appropriate 
from  the  other. 

*  I  cannot,  from  defect  of  the  man's  physique,  and 
consequent  approach  to  feminineness,  be  ready  to  draw  a 
broad  conclusion,  for  it  would  rest  on  a  ground  not  normal 
but  abnormal. 

'  All  this  seems  to  lie  in  the  region  of  metaphysics.  If 
divinity  is  taken  in,  one  can  conceive  that  questions  may 
arise  as  to  the  office  and  character  of  the  B.V.M.  :  questions 
which  may  readily  enough  become  dangerous. 

'  The  longer  I  live,  the  more  does  human  nature  seem 
to  me  profound  and  wonderful,  and  the  less  able  I  am  to 
arrive  at  definitive  solutions  respecting  it. 

'  I  own,  therefore,  to  being  much  out  of  my  depth,  and 
indisposed  to  push  any  observation  or  inference  which  the 
matter  suggests  to  a  logical  conclusion. 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'W.  E.  Gladstone.' 


GLADSTONE  259 

*  Many  thanks  for  your  deeply  interesting  passages  about 
Bishop  Lightfoot.     That  is  indeed  a 

Stately  pillar  broke, 
and  a  pillar  that  grew.'' 

10  Downing  Street,  Whitehall,  August  27,  1893. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — I  cannot  wonder  at  the  terms  of 
your  letter,  based  as  it  is  on  Swedish  experience  and  Royal 
conversation.  And  the  case  is  undoubtedly  one  of  great 
difficulty.  But  pray  do  not  make  up  your  mind  upon  it 
until  you  have  read  the  fundamental  pact  between  the 
two  countries.  It  is  contained  in  the  Constitution  and 
in  a  preliminary  international  document.  It  describes 
Norway  as  an  independent  nation  ;  and  this  pact  Norway 
does  not  ask  to  break.  I  do  not  say  she  is  right  in  what 
she  asks. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Black  Craig,  Blairgowrie,  September  12,  1893. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  find  that  five  Bishops  re- 
frained from  voting  on  the  8th  ^ — Manchester,  Newcastle, 
St,  David's,  Llandaflf,  Hereford.  Have  you  learned  any- 
thing of  the  causes  of  this  abstention  ?  One  or  two  might 
be  barred  by  age — Hereford,  I  think,  is  75.  Two  only  were 
recommended  by  me — Llandaff  and  Newcastle.  Voluntary 
abstention  may  be  regarded  as  highly  creditable  in  the  face 
of  such  a  torrent. 

'  I  cannot  but  think  that  for  the  Bishops  to  appear  in 
such  force  was  a  great  mistake.  As  to  one  or  two,  I  am 
a  good  deal  disappointed.  It  now  stands  on  record  that 
the  lay  Peerage  gave  Ireland  one  vote  in  every  two  ;  but 
the  Episcopal  body  not  a  single  one, 

'  The  case  of  the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  is  singular.  Early 
in  the  year  he  came  to  see  me  on  the  Welsh  Church, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  conversation  he  said,  quite  spon- 
taneously, that,  if  the  Irish  Bill  reached  the  House  of  Lords 

1  On  the  Second  Reading  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill. 

s  2 


260  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

he  earnestly  hoped  it  would  pass.     I  could  not  print  this, 
but  there  was  no  note  of  conMence  attached  to  it. 

'  I  was  very  glad  to  see  you  looking  really  well  again. 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

'  My  recollection  of  the  Bp.  of  St.  Asaph  is  as  clear 
as  it  can  be  :  but  I  admit  that  a  recollection  is  not  a 
facsimile.' 

A  blind 
man's  blot. 

Pitlochrie   N.B.,  July  12,  1894, 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — 1.  I  will  send  you  a  paper 
of  my  preface  on  Heresy  and  Schism.  Please  to  consider 
critically  whether  I  have  overstated  the  amount  and 
character  of  the  relation  maintained  by  the  Almighty  with 
the  schismatic  kingdom  of  Israel. 

'  We  are  here  until  Monday  the  8th — after  that  due 
at  DoUis. 

'  2.  Private.  Do  you  know  anything  of  the  new  Bishop  ?  ^ 
He  may  be  perfection.  But  I  am  absolutely  at  a  loss  to 
comprehend  why  it  was  necessary  to  travel  to  the  other 
side  of  the  world  for  a  Bishop,  over  the  heads  of  so  many 
obvious  men  presenting  the  varied  qualities  of  earnestness, 
years,  experience,  force,  service — and  lastly  sound  poHtics. 
What  is  the  moving  cause,  who  has  been  consulted,  I  have 
not  an  idea.     Pray  tell  me  everything  you  know. 

'  This  is  a  lovely  spot.  .  .  . 

'  Ever  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Cannes,  March  6,  1896. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — I  have  read  your  letter  with  great 
interest.  The  more  fully  the  Armenian  case  is  opened  to 
the  world  by  the  Italian  and  by  any  other  Government, 
the  better  shall  I  be  pleased. 

1  Gladstone  was  now  afflicted  with  cataract. 

2  G.  W.  Kennion,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  translated  from  Adelaide. 


GLADSTONE  261 

*  You  and  I  are  closely  united  in  opinion  and  in  sympathy 
upon  it,  but  I  am  afraid  you  ask  me  to  do  the  impossible. 
Even  if  I  had  read  the  Italian  Green  Book  and  made  up 
my  mind  that  it  ought  to  be  pubHshed,  I  ought  not  to  ofEer 
advice  to  a  Foreign  government.  In  my  position  I  am  quit 
of  all  responsibility,  and  I  consider  that  such  interventions 
— without  responsibihty— are  unwarranted,  and  may  be 
mischievous. 

'  The  Italians  have,  so  far  as  I  know,  been  more  sympa- 
thetic during  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  than  any  other 
European  people,  the  French  having,  it  must  be  admitted, 
had  enough  of  their  own  sorrows  to  fill  their  minds. 

'  This  Abyssinian  business  is  a  terrible  lesson  for  the 
Italians.  For  the  last  twenty-five  years  they  have  been 
playing  fast  and  loose  with  their  own  dearest  interests, 
and  have  endangered  all  their  institutions,  which,  so  far 
as  I  can  see,  can  only  be  made  safe  by  a  total  change  of 
poHcy,  and  by  keeping  themselves  to  themselves. 

'  With  us  at  home  folly  is  a  less  perilous  experiment 
and  is  freely  indulged  in.  I  think  the  22  miUions  of 
Navy  Estimates  positively  shocking  ;  and  would  send  the 
promoters  of  them  to  Bedlam. 

'  We  are  due  in  London  on  Tuesday  evening.  Splendid 
weather  here.' 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  September  16,  1896. 

'  My  Dear  Canon  MacColl,— The  apprehension  that  any 
coercive  measure  taken  against  the  Assassin  is  to  produce 
war  with  what  used  to  be  called  the  Northern  Powers 
appears  to  be  speculative  only. 

'  Were  England  to  adopt  measures  with  a  view  to  her 
own  advantage,  this  miglit  be  a  case  for  active  resistance 
to  her.  But  I  apprehend  we  have  a  casus  belli  against  the 
Sultan  for  non-fulfilment  of  the  Treaty  of  Cyprus. 

'  For  the  last  twelve  months  we  have,  for  the  sake  of 
European  Concert,  pursued  a  course  which  has  given  him  a 
complete  triumph  over  the  Six  Powers,  and  sho^n  him  that. 


262  MALCOLMj^MACCOLL 

so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  he  may  with  safety  prosecute 
his  work  of  extermination. 

'  Suppose  the  Sultan  were  required  to  give  Armenia 
reparation  for  the  past  and  security  for  the  future  by  pro- 
visions which  might  be  briefly  set  forth,  and  to  render  an 
unconditional  reply  within  three  days,  with  an  intimation 
that,  failing  such  a  reply,  we  should  at  once  dismiss  the 
Assassin's  Ambassador,  and  remove  ours,  and  consider 
further  of  the  measures  necessary  for  enforcing  our  just 
demands  ; 

'  With  two  accompanying  measures  : 

'  1.  A  gradual  but  larger  strengthening  of  our  force  in 
the  Eastern  Mediterranean. 

'  2.  A  Declaration  to  the  Powers  that  our  objects  were 
Armenian,  and  that  whatever  our  means  would  be,  the3'^ 
would  in  no  case  include  acquisition  for  ourselves  (the 
form  used  before  the  Crimean  War  would  supply  the  proper 
language). 

'  Supposing  all  this,  where  would  a  vested  ground  of 
objection  lie  on  the  part  of  the  Northern  Powers  ? 

'  Remember  that,  whatever  the  Governments  may  be,  the 
public  opinion  of  Europe,  not  wholly  excluding  their  own 
countries,  would  be  a  powerful  check. 

'  People  talk  as  if  the  seizure  of  Constantinople  or  of  Asia 
Minor  were  the  only  mode  of  proceeding.  But  there  is  the 
method  of  material  guarantees,  which  appear  likely  to  have 
great  force  in  the  present  condition  of  the  Empire  of  the 
Assassin.  Our  endeavour  to  organize  a  mild  plan  of  this 
kind  in  1880  sufficed,  even  before  it  was  ripe,  to  obtain  for 
Greece  and  Montenegro  territories  they  now  enjoy,  though 
Turkey  had  at  that  time  three  Great  Powers  on  her  side. 

'  What  the  guarantees  should  be,  could  only  be  deter- 
mined in  consultation  with  the  naval  and  military  authori- 
ties. Smyrna,  Crete,  Salonica,  are  among  the  names  which 
at  once  occur  for  consideration. 

'  But,  if  this  were  to  be  held  a  provocation  to  the  three 
Northern  Powers — if,  upon  our  announcing  our  intention  to 
coerce,  they  told  us  they  would  unitedly  meet  force  with 
force — and    if    we   were   without    support    anywhere — the 


GLADSTONE  263 

British  Nation  would  have  to  consider  its  course,  and  to 
choose  between  the  contest  or  retirement,  and  the  casting 
of  responsibihty  and  disgrace  where  it  would  then  be 
visibly  due. 

'  In  my  opinion  these  ifs  would  never  be  realized.  But 
if  they  were,  and  if  we  retired  in  consequence,  it  would  be  a 
vast  improvement  upon  the  present  state  of  things. 

'  It  is  difficult  and  hazardous  for  those  outside,  without 
authentic  information,  to  map  out  a  course  for  governments. 
They  can  only  do  it  under  reserve.  It  is  particularly 
repulsive  to  me.  But  I  find  that  we  actually  are  the 
unwilling  accomplices  of  monstrous  guilt  ;  and  I  yearn  and 
groan  for  relief  from  that  association. 

I  remain, 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  September  25,  1896. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — I  was  unwell  for  some  days  before 
the  Liverpool  meeting  and  spared  myself  all  I  could.  To- 
day I  have  sent  Knowles  four  or  five  pages  to  wind  up  his 
Symposium.^  I  thank  you  for  the  curious  and  important 
information  you  have  conveyed  to  me,  and  I  have  referred 
to  it  in  general  terms  without  any  indication  of  channel  or 
source.^ 

'  I  must  now  shut  up  ;  my  task  yesterday  was  difficult 
and  I  am  not  equal  to  the  repetition  of  such  experiments. 

'  The  feehng  of  the  meeting  was  excellent.  God  save  us 
from  the  Clubs. 

'  I  do  not  wonder  that  you  find  your  work  hard. 

'  When  I  noted  the  absence  of  references,  it  was  only  by 
way  of  suggestion  to  supply  them  as  far  as  might  be,  and  not 
in  order  to  draw  an  answer. 

'  I  must  now  turn  to  the  Pope  and  his  proceedings  in  the 
matter  of  Anghcan  Orders.  At  present  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  the  proceeding  at  Rome  is  one  which,  as  between 
men  of  the  world,  would  be  considered  dishonourable. 

^  On  The  Massacres  m  Ttirkey. 

*  Seo  Lord  Salisbury's  letter  on  p.  145. 


264  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  I  will  not  say  a  word  upon  Rosebery's  letter  published 
this  morning  :  for  what  I  should  have  to  say  would  be 
disagreeable  without  being  useful.  As  far  as  one  can  see, 
Salisbury  has  been  much  better,  so  that  I  ought  to  prefer 
"  Bury  "  to  "  Bery  "  in  this  great  matter. 

'  Yours  very  sincerely, 

'W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  October  5,  1896. 

'  My  Dear  Canon  MacColl. — I  am  very  glad  to  hear 
your  papers  are  about  to  be  repubHshed  :  they  cannot  but 
do  good. 

'  As  regards  Rosebery,  I  deplore,  as  you  know,  the  course 
he  has  taken,^  and  I  take  it  to  be  pretty  clear  that  he  has 
mistaken  the  set  of  the  currents,  and  is  in  great  difficulties. 
A  curious  article  in  the  Speaker  two  numbers  back,  while 
lauding  his  sentiments,  treats  him  as  having  in  effect  lost 
the  leadership. 

'  If  he  speaks  at  the  Scotch  meeting  it  will  be  a  sign,  I 
think,  of  a  desire  to  set  things  straight,  for  he  never  could 
be  so  mad  as  to  go  there  for  the  sake  of  creating  discord. 

'  I  do  not  wish  to  add  anything  to  increase  his  difficulties 
and  hope  he  may  find  a  clean  way  out  of  them.  If  I  did, 
it  would  be  most  unseemly  in  me  to  take  a  part,  for  his 
letter  on  sole  action  must  be  taken  as  meant  to  aim  a  mortal 
blow  at  what  I  was  recommending.  Perhaps  he  thinks  he 
has  reason  (nay,  he  may  have  from  his  point  of  view)  to 
complain  of  me,  but  whether  or  not,  I  cannot  do  anything  to 
embarrass  him,  and  wish  rather  better  than  I  hope  for  him. 

'  Ever  yours  sincerely, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

Hawarden,  December  1,  1896. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — I  can  only  reply  succinctly  to  the 
points  raised  in  your  very  full  letter. 

'  1.  Armenia. — We  are  on  our  backs — we  have  done 
what  we  could.  The  great  Avenger  may  yet  show  that  He 
has  an  account  to  settle  vnt\\  the  great  Assassin  and  his 
works. 

^  In  resigning  the  Liberal  leadership. 


GLADSTONE  265 

*  2.  Egypt. — I  am  sorry  we  are  not  at  one.  My  reasons 
are  three  : 

'  (1)  We  must  keep  faith. 

'  (2)  We  have  no  right  to  pronounce  the  Eg^T)tians  per- 
manently incapable  of  seK-governm     t. 

•  (3)  The  occupation  is  a  source  of  weaknesf       ourselves, 

as  well  as  a  needless  augmentation  oi  risk. 

'  3.  I  would  venture  to  recommend  great  caution  in 
handling  the  character  of  Gordon,  who  was  a  hero,  and 
was  wholly  unfit  to  be  employed  by  non-heroes. 

'  4.  I  long  ago  gave  the  history  of  the  Crimean  War, 
in  my  version  of  it,  in  the  Historical  Review.  It  may  be 
reprinted  shortly.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  as  to  the  cura- 
bility of  Turkey,  we  were  misled  by  authorities  such  as 
Stratford  and  Palmerston. 

'  5.  I  am  glad  you  are  pleased  with  the  Essays,^  but  I 
think  your  kind  nature  leads  you  to  heighten  Dr.  DoUinger's 
sufl&ciently  liberal  estimate  of  my  theological  capacity. 

'  6.  With  regard  to  the  letter  which  I  inclose,  I  entirely 
agree  with  you,  and  in  what  I  may  have  to  say  about 
Dr.  Clark  I  shall  be  glad  of  any  opportunity  to  notice  the 
loathsome  but  rather  necessary  topic. 2 

'7.1  conceive  that  my  Preface  presupposes,  even  by  its 
title,  your  work,  and  will  have  to  be  built  upon  it,  rather 
than  your  work  upon  my  Preface.  But  I  have  already 
published  in  America  a  notice  of  Clark  which  I  could  send 
you  subject  to  return.  I  think  it  contains  the  bulk  of  what 
I  have  to  say. 

'8.  I  do  not  quite  recollect  what  was  the  line  of  argument 
which  pleased  you,  and  you  do  not  describe  it. 

*  9.  Forgive  me  for  again  saying  my  sight  makes  MS.  a 
great  difficulty  with  me.  You  will  be  surprised  when  I  say 
that  it  took  me,  I  think,  near  half  an  hour  to  read  your 
letter. 

'  Ever  yours  sincerely, 
'W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

'  Many  of  the  letters  sent  me  I  never  read  at  all.' 

'  On  the  works  of  Butler. 

'  MacColl  was  goinsj;  to  write  the  Life  of  Sir  Andrew  Clark,  M.D.,  and  asked 
Mr.  Gladstone,  who  had  been  Clark's  patient,  to  furnish  a  preface. 


266  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Hawarden,  January  26,  1897. 

'  Deae  Canon  MacColl, — We  are  commonly  in  pretty 
close  accord,  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  in  your  present 
letter  and  article  I  cannot  concur. 

'  As  it  appears  to  me,  with  my  imperfect  means  of 
judgment : 

'  1.  Lord  S.  committed  a  fundamental  error  in  abandon- 
ing from  the  first  the  duty,  and  surrendering  the  right,  of 
sole  action. 

'  2.  He  seems  not  to  have  reserved  that  right  uncon- 
ditionally, but  only  the  right  of  withdrawal  from  the  action, 
or  courses  of  inaction,  of  others. 

'  3,  The  present  prospect  of  Coercion  is  nil,  unless  to 
enforce  what  does  not  exist  and  what  any  one  of  the  Powers 
can  prevent. 

'  4.  He  has  warmly  lauded  the  Rosebery  speech. 

'  So  we  are  rather  wide  apart. 

'  I  doubt  whether  we  know  exactly  the  attitude  of  Lord 
R.  or  of  his  Cabinet  at  the  moment  of  their  strange  and 
unhappy  resignation.^ 

'  I  hope  you  saw  a  very  weighty  and  conclusive  speech 
of  Herbert's  on  Lord  R.'s  declarations  such  as  they  stood 
up  to  a  recent  date.  No  one  has  repUed.  I  imagine  because 
no  one  can. 

'  London  (D.V.),  to-morrow  ;  Cannes,  Saturday. 
'  Always  sincerely  yours, 

'  W.  E.  Gladstone.' 

'  I  wish  the  Czar  would  get  upon  the  Cutty  Stool  ^  at 
once.     But  his  translating  you  is  good.' 


The   beginning   of  MacColl's   acquaintance   with  Lord 
Salisbury  may  be  given  in  his  own  words  : 

'  I  first  met  Lord  SaUsbury,  then  Lord  Robert  Cecil,  at 
the  house  of  Colonel  Greville,^  and  the  conversation  turned 

^  When  defeated  on  a  vote  about  cordite,  June  1895. 

*  For  the  '  Cutty  Stool '  see  Jeanie  Dean's  interview  with  Queen  Caroline 
in  The  Heart  of  Mid-LotMan.  MacColl's  book  on  the  Armenian  Question  was 
translated  into  Russian  by  the  Czar's  command. 

'  Afterwards  Lord  Greville  :  married  Lady  Rosa  Nugent,  heiress  of  the 
Marquess  of  Westmeath. 


LORD  SALISBURY  267 

on  Ireland  after  Lady  Rosa  Greville  and  Lady  Robert  Cecil 
had  left  the  dining-room.  I  was  the  other  guest.  Colonel 
Greville  expatiated  on  the  wrongs  of  Ireland  and  sketched 
out  a  scheme  of  legislation  for  the  reform  of  the  land-system 
and  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church.  Lord  Robert 
Cecil  listened,  attentively,  with  an  ironical  smile,  and  said, 
when  Colonel  Greville  had  finished  :  "  Well,  you  have  just 
sketched  out  as  pretty  a  scheme  of  revolution  as  I  have  seen 
for  a  long  time."  Lord  Robert  lived  to  see  and  agree  to 
legislation  in  regard  to  Ireland  in  comparison  with  which 
Colonel  Greville's  suggestions  were  mild  and  moderate 
indeed. 

'Those  who  know  Lord  Sahsbury  in  later  hfe  would 
have  hardly  recognized  him  as  the  tall,  sUm  man  with 
the  stoop,  to  whose  conversation  I  listened  with  interest 
that  first  evening  of  our  acquaintance.  He  was  then,  as 
afterwards,  a  keen  and  brilliant  talker,  full  of  anecdote 
and  repartee,  with  a  keen  sense  of  fun.  The  first  time 
I  heard  Lord  Salisbury,  then  Lord  Robert,  speak  was  in 
a  debate  on  the  abolition  of  Church  Rates.  John  Bright 
made  a  strong  speech  against  Church  Rates  and  was 
followed  by  Lord  Robert  Cecil  from  one  of  the  back 
seats  on  the  Opposition  side  below  the  gangway.  It  was 
a  vigorous  speech,  and  I  remember  one  sarcasm  in  it. 
"  We  have  heard  in  this  debate,"  he  said,  "  more  than  one 
allusion  to  the  Secular  Arm,  which  I  take  to  mean  the 
brawny  arm  of  the  Hon.  Member  for  Rochdale,"  which 
Bright  then  represented.  The  House  laughed  at  this 
oratorical  hit  at  the  fighting  qualities  of  the  eloquent 
Quaker.  Lord  Sahsbury,  like  his  son  Hugh,  proved  his 
aptitude  for  debate  very  early  in  his  parliamentary  career, 
and  Lord  Palmerston,  who  was  then  Prime  Minister,  Mas 
quick  to  recognize  the  fact.  "  Beware  of  that  young  man," 
he  said  to  a  friend,  "  he  possesses  one  of  the  secrets  of 
success,  for  instead  of  defending  himself  and  his  cause, 
he  attacks  the  other  side."  But  there  was  no  venom  or 
malice  in  Lord  Sahsbury's  sarcastic  sallies  ;  and  in  private 
life  he  was  one  of  the  most  amiable  men,  as  well  as  one  of 
the  simplest  and  humblest.' 


268  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

MacColl's  correspondence  with  Lord  Salisbury  began 
with  the  following  letters,  written  when  Gladstone's  Irish 
Church  Suspensory  Bill  was  before  Parhament : 


June  22,  1868. 

'  My  Lord, — I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you 
twice  at  the  house  of  Colonel  Greville-Nugent ;  but  that, 
of  course,  does  not  entitle  me  to  take  the  Uberty  of  asking 
you  to  read  the  two  pamphlets  which  I  send  along  with 
this.  My  apology  must  be  the  importance  of  the  subject. 
The  pamphlets  are  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  One 
is  his  speech  on  the  Jew  Bill,  repubHshed  in  1847  with  an 
elaborate  preface,  in  which  are  contained,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  the  germs  of  all  his  ecclesiastical  poHcy  since.  I  wonder 
that  preface  was  not  quoted  in  any  of  the  recent  debates, 
if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  show  the  absurdity  of  quoting 
against  him  his  book  on  Church  and  State,  since  he 
deUberately  and  explicitly  discards  that  book  in  the  preface 
to  his  speech  on  the  Jew  Bill. 

'  The  other  pamphlet  is  a  letter  addressed  to  the  late 
Bishop  Skinner  of  Aberdeen  in  the  year  1852.  That 
pamphlet  also  shows  that  Mr.  Gladstone's  present  views 
on  Church  and  State  are  not  the  sudden  birth  of  Party 
exigence. 

'  Both  pamphlets  are,  I  beheve,  out  of  print,  else  I  would 
have  sent  your  Lordship  clean  copies.  The  pencil-marks 
which  are  scattered  over  them  were  made  for  my  own  use. 

'  If  I  may  venture  to  do  so  without  impertinence  I 
would  beg  your  Lordship's  attention  especially  to  pp.  16-17 
of  the  preface  of  the  Jew  Bill ;  for  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  disregard  of  the  caution  there  recommended  is  now 
mainly  the  cause  of  Bills  Hke  Mr.  Coleridge's  Tests  Bill ; 
and  Mr.  Gladstone's  far-sighted  warning  was  never  more 
needful  than  now,  when  Mr.  DisraeH  has  hoisted  "  a  banner 
with  the  strange  device  " — "  The  Protestant  Church  of 
England "  (speech  at  Merchant  Taylors').  I  regret  to 
observe  all  over  the  country  High  Churchmen,  hke  Arch- 
deacon Denison  and  Mr.  Gregory  of  Lambeth,  attending 


LORD  SALISBURY  269 

meetings  in  defence  of  this  Irish  EstabHshment — meetings 
at  which  that  mongrel  negation,  "  our  Common  Protes- 
tantism," is  placed  in  the  front  as  the  thing  to  be  fought 
for  ;  yet  Mr.  Gregory  and  Archdeacon  Denison  affect  great 
indignation  when  this  "  Common  Protestantism  "  insists  on 
equal  rights  at  the  Universities  ! 

'  At  this  moment,  my  Lord,  I  believe  that  there  is  no 
man  in  the  kingdom  who  is  looked  up  to  with  greater 
confidence  and  respect  than  yourself,  and  that  by  all  parties. 
Even  a  man  so  extreme  as  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  remarked 
to  me  the  other  day  that  the  aristocracy  of  England  had 
nothing  to  fear  from  Democracy  provided  they  had  men 
like  you  to  lead  them  ;  but  that  a  few  years  more  of 
Mr.  Disraeli's  leadership  would  destroy  them. 

'  It  is  because  I  believe  that  your  Lordship's  attitude 
in  the  debate  on  the  Suspensory  Bill  will  affect,  perhaps 
vitally,  not  only  the  Church  of  England  but  the  House  of 
Lords  also,  that  I  presume  to  ask  you  to  be  so  good  as  to 
read  the  two  pamphlets  which  I  now  send  you. 
'  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  my  Lord, 

'  Your  obedient  servant, 

'  Malcolm  MacColl.' 

The  Suspensory  Bill  having  been  thrown  out  by  the 
Lords,  the  country  was  making  ready  for  the  General  Elec- 
tion, at  which  the  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church  was 
the  dominating  topic. 

October  19,  1868, 

'  My  Lord, — I  feel  I  ought  to  apologize  to  your 
Lordship  for  having  taken  the  liberty  of  asking  Messrs. 
Longmans  to  send  you  a  copy  of  a  pamphlet  of  mine  on 
the  Irish  Church.  I  have  presumed  to  differ  from  some 
of  the  views  you  expressed  in  your  able  speech  on  the 
Suspensory  Bill ;  but  I  have  tried  at  the  same  time  to 
express  the  respect  and  admiration  which  I  sincerely  feel 
for  your  Lordship's  ability  and  character. 

'  Would  that  the  Conservative  party  had  you  for  its 
leader ;  for  then  I  should  feel  that,  whether  I  could  or 
could  not  always  go  along  with  the  party,  I  could  place 


270  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

unstinted  confidence  in  its  chivaby  and  honour.  I  was 
brought  up  as  a  Conservative,  I  was  created  among  Con- 
servative traditions,  and  one  of  my  ancestors  fell  fighting 
for  Charles  Edward  on  Culloden  Field.  I  feel,  therefore, 
all  the  more  bitterly  the  dishonour  and  discredit  which 
Mr.  Disraeli's  tactics  have  brought  upon  the  party. 

'  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  express  the  energy  of  my 
aversion  to  that  man.  I  beHeve  there  is  not  a  single  insti- 
tution in  England,  from  the  Throne  downwards,  which  he 
would  not  sacrifice  to  his  own  personal  ends.  The  Con- 
servative party  will  be  irretrievably  ruined,  for  a  generation 
at  least,  if  it  is  to  be  led  much  longer  by  Mr.  Disraeli. 

'  I  know,  too,  that  no  one  would  rejoice  more  than 
Mr.  Gladstone  to  see  the  Conservative  party  marshalled 
under  your  leadership.' 

'  Your  obedient  servant, 

'  Malcolm  MacColl.' 

July  23,  1869. 

'  Dear  Sir, — It  was  certainly  my  impression,  as  it  was 
that  of  many  other  Peers,  that  Mr.  Gladstone's  tone  and 
manner  in  dealing  with  our  amendments  ^  was  not  courteous. 
I  did  not,  however,  hear  his  remarks  myseK — and  I  dare  say 
your  judgment  was  more  impartial.  I  regarded  it  merely 
as  an  indication  that  he  meant  to  coerce  the  House  of 
Lords  if  he  was  able — but  I  did  not  feel  that  we  could 
properly  take  such  an  indication  without  showing  our  own 
feelings  on  the  subject. 

'  To  speak  frankly,  I  have  been  not  a  little  puzzled 
at  the  attention  and  feeling  which  the  adjective  I  used 
appears  to  have  excited.^  If  anyone  said  of  me  that  I  had 
an  arrogant  will  I  do  not  think  I  should  regard  it  as  a 
severe  censure.  I  certainly  had  no  intention  of  saying 
anything  to  give  Mr.  Gladstone  pain.  I  only  desired  to 
do  what  I  could  to  induce  the  Peers  to  resist  him  on  points 
where  I  sincerely  thought  him  wrong. 

^  To  the  Irish  Church  Bill.  Gladstone  had  likened  the  Lords  to  men  in  a 
balloon. 

*  '  It  is  the  will — the  arrogant  will — of  a  single  man  to  which  you  are  now 
called  upon  to  submit.' 


LORD  SALISBURY  271 

'  You  doubtless  remember  when  Sir  Robert  Peel 
applied  a  similar  epithet  to  the  English  aristocracy — and 
being  taken  to  task  for  it,  replied  that  it  was  "  Superbiam 
quaesitam  meritis."  I  may  shelter  myself  under  the  same 
defence. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

March  12,  1871. 

'  Dear  Mr,  MacColl, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
the  copy  of  your  book  on  the  origin  of  the  late  war. 

'  I  thoroughly  concur  with  most  of  your  views — but  I 
doubt  if  they  are  good  material  for  Parliamentary  debate. 
I  cannot  help  feeUng  that  when  we  are  so  disinclined  to 
act — and  indeed  so  incapable  of  acting — there  is  something 
humiliating  in  attempting  to  make  up  for  our  inaction  by 
energetic  denunciations  in  Parliament. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

I  copy  the  following  passage  from  a  memorandum 
written  by  MacColl  : 

'  A  few  years  after  the  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish 
Church  I  heard  a  conversation  in  a  railway-carriage  on 
Lord  Salisbury's  unbending  Toryism.  The  five  occupants 
of  the  carriage  were  all  strangers  to  me  except  one,  whom 
I  knew  by  sight  though  he  did  not  know  me.  They  were 
all  Liberals,  and  referred  to  Lord  Salisbury's  violent  oppo- 
sition to  the  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church  as  a  proof 
of  his  contempt  for  the  verdict  of  the  nation.  I  ventured 
mildly  to  say  that,  on  the  contrary,  Lord  Salisbury  sup- 
ported and  voted  in  favour  of  the  Disestablishment  of  the 
Irish  Church.  My  fellow-travellers  looked  upon  me  with 
an  expression  of  pitying  surprise  at  my  extraordinary 
ignorance,  and  exclaimed  in  chorus,  "  Oh  no."  I  said  no 
more,  but  having  occasion  to  write  to  Mr.  Delane  that 
evening,  for  I  was  then  on  the  staff  of  the  Times,  I  men- 
tioned this  incident  of  forgetfulness  on  the  part  of  men 
who  took  a  keen  interest  in  politics.     I  received  a  note 


272  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

from  Mr.  Delane  the  following  morning  in  which  he  said, 
"  You  are  partly  right  and  partly  wrong  :  Lord  Salisbury 
spoke  in  support  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  Disestablishment  Bill, 
but  did  not  vote."  If  any  man  ought  to  know  the  facts 
it  was  the  great  Editor  of  the  Times,  yet  I  felt  sure  I  was 
right,  though  being  out  of  town  I  had  not  the  means  of 
verifying  my  impression.  Having,  therefore,  occasion  to 
write  to  Lord  Salisbury  on  another  subject,  I  put  the 
question  to  himself.' 

November  7,  1871. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — You  were  certainly  right ; 
I  both  spoke  and  voted  for  the  Second  Reading  of  the  Irish 
Church  Bill — and  on  the  ground  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
Lords  (generally  speaking)  to  defer  to  a  decided  national 
opinion  unmistakably  expressed.  I  was  careful^I  may 
say  in  passing — to  draw  a  strong  distinction  between  the 
national  opinion  and  the  opinion  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
to  which  as  such  the  Lords  are  in  no  way  bound  to  defer. 
The  two  were  identical  in  that  case  because  a  General 
Election  had  been  held  with  the  particular  question  in 
issue  full  in  view. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

February  20,  1872. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — My  experience  of  Lord  Napier 
was,  of  course,  very  short ;  but  the  impression  I  formed 
was  entirely  of  the  kind  you  mention.  His  characteristics 
appeared  to  me  to  be  not  only  great  energy  and  freshness, 
but  freedom  from  the  spirit  of  routine  which  is  so  powerful 
in  India. 

'  The  Athanasian  Creed  is  receiving  hard  measure  from 
many  who  ought  to  defend  it.  It  is  very  much  to  be  wished 
that  when  the  Bishops  pick  to  pieces  the  Creeds  of  the 
Church  they  would  have  the  prudence  to  turn  the  reporters 
out  of  doors. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 


LORD  SALISBURY  273 

July  10,  1872. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  a  copy  of  your  work  on  the  Athanasian  Creed,  which  I 
received  at  Hatfield  on  Saturday,  before  I  got  your  letter. 
I  have  read  it — or  at  least  the  greater  part  of  it ;  and  have 
derived  from  it  no  less  pleasure  than  instruction. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

MacColl  was  now  busily  occupied  in  organizing  a  pubUc 
meeting  in  defence  of  the  Athanasian  Creed,  and  he  asked 
Lord  Salisbury  to  preside. 

October  29,  1872. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  only  received  your  circular 
this  morning.  I  am  sorry  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  be  in 
town  to-morrow.  I  only  write  now  to  beg  that  the  propo- 
sition that  I  should  take  the  chair  at  the  proposed  meeting 
may  not  be  made,  as  I  should  be  compelled  to  decUne  it. 
I  deprecate  any  such  meetings  under  existing  circumstances 
very  much.  We  are  too  weak  for  such  a  policy.  We  shall 
only  call  forth  much  more  powerful  meetings  on  the  other 
side  ;  and  we  shall  thus,  possibly  enough,  irritate  the  anti- 
Church  party  in  the  House  of  Commons  into  taking  action. 
Our  extreme  weakness  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament  must 
not  be  forgotten.  In  the  present  state  of  lay  feeling,  our 
best  and  only  safe  organ  is  the  Lower  House  of  Convocation. 

'  I  am  bound  to  add  that  the  "  Platform  "  of  the  proposed 
meeting  is  not  quite  to  my  mind.  I  do  not  know  what 
will  come  of  the  dehberations  of  the  Bishops  ;  but  I  am 
not  prepared  to  protest  beforehand  against  any  measure 
the  Church  may  think  fit  to  adopt  with  reference  to  the 
times  or  circumstances  under  which  the  Creed  shall  be 
used  in  the  public  service.  Such  a  course  seems  to  be 
hardly  consistent  with  any  kind  of  ecclesiastical  order  or 
subordination. 

'  Pray,  therefore,  suggest  some  other  chairman  to  the 
meeting  to-morrow. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

*  Salisbury.' 


274  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

December  8,  1872. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  have  thought  much  on  your 
letter.  I  do  not  think  my  speaking  would  be  of  much 
use — because  as  a  layman  I  could  not  treat  the  Creed  doc- 
trinally,  and  to  treat  it  from  a  political  point  of  view,  i.e. 
from  the  point  of  view  of  expediency,  would  be  incongruous 
before  an  assembly  such  as  this  is  likely  to  be.  But  I  agree 
so  far  that  speaking  is  a  very  different  thing  from  taking 
the  chair.  The  latter  commits  one  to  responsibility  for  the 
holding  of  the  meeting.     The  former  does  not. 

'  As  to  the  impolicy  of  the  meeting  I  still  feel  strongly. 
I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  speaking  to  Mr.  Gladstone  on 
the  subject,  and  I  find  that  the  inclination  of  his  mind  is 
in  the  same  direction  as  mine.  He  is  equally  impressed 
with  our  extreme  weakness  in  Parliament.  Any  aggressive 
action  on  our  part  would  only  give  new  vigour  to  our 
opponents  :  and  it  is  not  our  game  to  precipitate  a  struggle. 

'  My  information  as  to  the  Archbishop  differs  widely  from 
yours.  I  beheve  he  will  be  satisfied  with  an  Explanatory 
Note.  If  I  am  right,  then  I  think  our  policy  clearly  is  to 
let  him  lead  :  not  to  attempt  to  take  the  lead  out  of  his 
hands.  He  can  do  what  we  cannot  do — silence  the  Broad 
Churchmen.  If  he  takes  a  sound  line,  we  may  then,  by 
the  help  of  the  Prime  Minister  and  the  Chancellor,  prevent 
Parliament  from  moving.  If  it  does  move,  we  certainly 
shall  have  the  secular  penalties  removed  ;  even  if  we  can  save 
the  rubric  from  alteration.  I  am  very  anxious,  therefore, 
that  nothing  should  be  done  to  put  the  Archbishop  wrong. 

'  As  to  speaking — it  is  a  matter  of  minutest  importance  — 
but  I  had  rather  not  pledge  myself  till  I  have  had  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  Archbishop,  which  I  hope  to  have 
shortly. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

December  13,  1872. 

'  Dear  Mr..  MacColl, — Dr.  Liddon's  opinion  joined  to 
your  own  undoubtedly  is  an  element  of  great  importance 
in  this  matter. 


LORD  SALISBURY  275 

'  I  am  ashamed  to  keep  you  waiting  for  an  answer  on  so 
trivial  a  question  as  whether  I  should  speak  at  a  meeting 
or  not.  But  the  momentous  character  of  the  subject 
makes  each  man's  course  a  matter  of  severe  personal 
responsibility.  I  am  not  able  to  decide  on  my  own  course 
till  I  have  seen  the  Archbishop.  I  am  not  usually  afraid 
of  a  combative  policy  :  but  on  this  question  I  am  nervously 
apprehensive  of  the  dangers  of  such  a  course. 

'  I  will  write  again  in  two  or  three  days.  I  am  afraid 
I  shall  have  guests  on  Tuesday  so  that  I  cannot  come  up. 

*  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

Christmas  Day,  1872. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  re-enclose  Mr.  Kingsley's 
letters.  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  having  given  me 
the  opportunity  of  reading  them. 

'  From  what  I  hear  I  do  not  think  the  proposed  meeting 
can  do  any  harm  now — and  therefore  if  you  wish  it  I  shall 
be  willing  to  move  or  second  the  second  resolution.  But 
I  quite  concur  in  Canon  Kingsley's  feeling  as  to  discussing 
such  subjects  from  the  platform  :  and  therefore,  if  you  have 
engaged  any  better  man  for  the  part,  I  shall  very  gladly 
give  way. 

'  I  think  on  all  sides  the  magnitude  of  the  task  of  inter- 
fering with  the  present  status  of  the  Creed  is  growing  on 
men's  minds. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury/ 

The  meeting  was  held  at  St.  James's  Hall  on  January  31, 
1873.  Lord  SaUsbury  made  a  vigorous  speech,  from  which 
the  following  is  an  extract : 

'It  is  a  small  matter  comparatively  that  consciences 
would  be  wounded,  and  deep  resentments  would  be  excited, 
and  probably  a  formidable  schism  would  be  created  ;  it  is 
a  small  matter  compared  with  that  frightful  evil  that  men 
would  come  to  look  upon  the  Church  as  having  deserted 
her  sacred  mission,  and  having  sunk  to  the  level  of  those 

T  2 


276  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Protestant  communities  abroad — at  Geneva  and  in  Paris — 
where  the  faith  which  the  Athanasian  Creed  proclaims  has 
been  openly  abandoned.  Such  a  result  might  be  obtained 
by  the  help  of  those  scrupulous  consciences  whom  we  re- 
spect, though  we  regret  their  efforts  ;  but  it  would  not  be 
the  scrupulous  consciences  that  would  reap  the  ultimate 
resiilts.  Behind  the  thin  line  of  scrupulous  consciences  we 
see  the  vast  forces  of  unbelief.  The  scrupulous  consciences 
would  win  the  battle  ;  the  forces  of  unbeHef  would  gather 
the  spoils  of  victory.' 

February  17,  1873. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  enclose  the  corrected  proof. 
As  far  as  we  have  gone,  the  events  have  justified  your 
view.  The  politicians  have  met  a  bigger  obstacle  than  they 
expected,  and  are  fighting  shy.  I  trust  it  may  continue 
so  :   but  the  tactics  were  hazardous. 

'  I  have  not  at  present  heard  of  any  intention  to  moot 
the  question  in  either  House  of  Parliament. 

'Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

The  Session  of  1874  was  signalized  by  the  debate  on  the 
Public  Worship  Regulation  Bill. 

June  9,  1874. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  have  been  unwell  and  have 
consequently  been  rather  hard  pressed,  or  I  would  have 
replied  to  you  before. 

'  The  objects  in  the  Bill  which  I  have  been  most  anxious 
to  secure  and  which  at  one  time  seemed  very  doubtful, 
were  the  appointment  of  an  independent  lay-judge,  and 
the  Bishop's  Veto  on  all  suits.  These  are  now  in  the  Bill. 
But  a  consent  to  the  latter  could  not  have  been  obtained 
in  certain  influential  quarters  without  a  "neutralization" 
clause. 

'  I  agree  that,  if  the  clause  is  to  be  looked  on  as  a  bargain, 
it  is  a  bad  one.  But  I  cannot  see  that  in  itself  it  can  do 
harm.  No  one  would  advocate  litigation  on  the  points 
named  in  it :  why  then  not  remove  the  penalties  ?  The 
clause  is,  I  understand,  framed  on  the  principle  of  including 


i 


LORD  SALISBURY  277 

only  ambiguous  and  obsolete  rubrics— those  of  which  the 
meamng  is  much  disputed,  and  those  which  for  generations 
have  been  disregarded  without  challenge.  The  only  other 
rubric  that  might  come  into  this  list  is  the  Vestments  rubric. 
But  here  you  are  confronted  with  the  practical  difficulty — 
that  either  you  must  make  all  vestments  (including  surphce) 
optional — which  is  more  than  we  should  like  :  or  you  must 
specially  name  chasubles  in  the  Bill— which  would  make 
nine  tenths  of  both  Houses  faint  with  horror. 

'All  this  discussion  on  my  part  is,  however,  wholly 
speculative.  The  line  taken  by  Lord  Limerick  and  his 
supporters  has  so  profoundly  irritated  the  House  of  Lords, 
that  the  Government  has  lost  all  hold  over  them.  After 
the  ill-advised  division  of  Thursday  last  the  Archbishop  has 
become  practically  supreme.  He  has  found  it  out — too 
late,  fortunately,  to  recall  some  of  his  concessions.  The 
Government  (even  if  I  could  direct  its  action,  which  of  course 
I  cannot)  is  powerless  now.  Last  night  we  were  beaten 
two  to  one  by  the  Bishops — both  Front  Benches  and  Lord 
Shaftesbury  voting  in  the  minority.  So  that  we  are  the 
last  people  to  whom  you  should  appeal. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

August  15,  1874. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl,— I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
your  letter.  I  was  very  glad  indeed  that  we  were  able  to 
keep  the  Bishop's  Veto  unbroken,  as  I  looked  upon  that 
safeguard  as  intensely  important. 

'  Touching  the  scene  in  the  Commons  on  Wednesday 
week,  I  think  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  tone  which  his  re- 
marks seemed  to  bear  was  disavowed  by  him  immediately .^ 
Whether  it  occurred  to  him  while  he  was  speaking,  or  whether 
he  received  any  suggestion  on  the  subject  when  he  sat  down, 
I  do  not  know  :  but,  within  a  couple  of  hours  of  his  sitting 
down,  I  received  a  note  from  him  saying  that  he  had 
attempted  a  humorous  defence  of  me,  that  he  feared  it  had 

'  Lord  Salisbury  had  criticized  the  Bill,  and  Disraeli,  referring  to  those 
criticisms,  described  their  author  as  '  a  great  master  of  gibes  and  flouts  and 
jeers.' 


278  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

been  badly  executed,  and  would  look  ill  in  the  report, 
and  disclaiming  any  unfriendly  meaning.  The  extreme 
promptitude  of  this  explanation  precludes  the  idea  of  any 
intervening  change  of  feeling. 

'  That  Sir  V.  Harcourt  has  some  such  idea  as  you  suggest 
is  very  possible. 

'  But  it  rests  apparently  with  him  alone. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

November  10,  1876. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  your  kind  letter. 

'  The  task  they  have  put  upon  me  is  undoubtedly  a  very 
stiff  one.^  It  depends  more  on  others  than  on  us,  whether 
anything  satisfactory  can  be  effected. 

'  Believe  me,- 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  in  great  haste, 
*  Salisbury.' 

August  24,  1884, 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
your  letter.  The  rumour  ^  in  question  has  not  reached  me — 
and  I  should  certainly  not  have  believed  it — if  for  no  other 
reason,  on  the  ground  of  style.  The  article  to  which  you 
refer  evidently  comes  from  the  camp-followers  of  the  Con- 
servative army,  who  want  plunder,  and  are  angry  with  me 
because  they  think,  perhaps  justly,  that  I  am  not  going  the 
right  way  to  get  it.  Escott  is  a  good  deal  mixed  up  with 
these  people.  But  T  am  puzzled  at  the  writer's  having  heard 
of  the  contents  of  Disraeli's  letter,  which  was  known  to  very 
few.  It  was  written  almost  immediately  after  the  speech 
was  made  (at  a  morning  sitting),  and  I  got  it  that  afternoon 
before  I  left  the  India  Office  :  and  therefore,  as  D.  never 
kept  copies  of  his  letters,  it  could  hardly  have  been  seen  by 
many  on  liis  side — and  on  mine  only  I  think  by  three  or  four. 

^  Lord  Salisbury  was  just  setting  out  for  the  Conference  at  Constantinople. 

*  It  was  rumoured  that  MacColl  was  the  author  of  an  article  in  the 
Fortnightly  Review,  in  which  the  incident  described  in  the  letter  of  August  15, 
1874,  was  narrated. 


LORD  SALISBURY  279 

'  I  am  much  indebted  to  you  for  the  favourable  criticism 
in  the  Spectator.  Mr.  Hutton's  interpolation  is  a  curious 
case  of  survi%'al  of  expressions.  That  impersonation  of 
"  the  people  "  as  a  thing  you  can  love  or  hate— or  be  the 
"  foe  "  of— belongs  to  the  dialect  of  the  French  Convention. 
It  means  nothing.  However  unchristian  he  may  think  me, 
does  he  imagine  I  hate  the  people  who  vote  Tory  as  well  as 
the  people  who  vote  Radical — the  people  who  cheer  me  as 
well  as  the  people  who  hoot  me  ? 

'  The  only  restraint  I  should  like  to  impose  on  the  liberty 
of  the  Press  would  be  to  make  political  abstractions  penal. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

October;:13,  1884. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  afraid  that  I  shall  have 
so  much  to  do  when  I  go  back  that  I  cannot  venture  to 
accept  any  such  engagement  as  that  which  you  propose  ;  ^ 
though  otherwise  it  would  have  given  me  great  pleasure  to 
do  so.  But  my  time  is  more  fully  engaged  with  somewhat 
unprofitable  occupations  than  I  like  to  think  of. 

'  I  regard  such  conspiracies  ^  as  you  mention  with  much 
philosophy.  Cantabit  xmcuus  coram  latrone.  They  can  strip 
me  of  nothing  that  I  value.  The  story  about  Bismarck  is 
a  curious  myth.  I  have  not  had  the  slightest  communica- 
tion with  him.  Do  they  imagine  he  cares  for  such  as  me  1 
He  cares  for  people  who  dispose  of  armies— and  for  no 
one  else. 

'  I  think  you  have  noted  the  essential  issue  between  me 
and  my  opponents  in  this  Franchise  controversy.  They 
imagine  that  the  large  majority  of  the  people  are  neutral,  de- 
ciding according  to  current  events  on  each  election.  I  do  not 
think  so.  As  long  as  the  EstabHshed  Church  lasts,  it  can- 
not be  so.  There  is  a  huge  kernel  of  permanent  RadicaHsm 
consisting  of  Nonconformists  of  all  grades,  and  of  a  small 
number  of  anti-religious  sectaries  of  the  Continental  type. 
Round  them  is  a  zone  of  professional  politicians — men  who 

1  MacColl's  Parochial  Luncheon. 

"  Contrivances  to  oust  Lord  Salisbury  from  the  Conservative  leadership. 


280  INIALCOLM  MACCOLL 

are  Liberal  by  family  tradition,  and  by  reason  of  their 
own  pledges  and  exertions  in  past  times ;  whose  per- 
sonal importance  depends  on  their  political  creed.  This 
zone  is  also  comparatively  permanent.  Outside  them, 
again,  comes  the  zone  of  temporary  adherents,  who  fall 
away  in  times  of  rebuke.  I  do  not  beHeve  the  permanent 
element  to  be  a  majority  of  the  people  ;  but  they  are  quite 
large  enough  to  be  capable  of  being  invested  with  the 
powers  of  a  majority  by  a  suitable  distribution  of  seats. 

'  I  am, 

'  Yours  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

November  18,  1884. 

*  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  only  write  a  line  to  thank  you 
for  your  letter. 

'  You  will  have  seen  that  terms  were  offered  to  us  which 
we  thought  we  could  accept,  without  betraying  our  trust ; 
and  that  being  so,  we  were  glad  to  take  a  step  towards 
closing  the  controversy.^ 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

March  22,  1885. 

*  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, —  ...  I  quite  agree  with  you  in 
disliking  the  Soudan  war.     It  promises  no  good  results. 

'  Our  complaint  is  that  we  have  been  brought  into  such 
a  position  that  retreat  will  be  even  more  injurious  than 
persistence. 

*  Ever  yours  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

December  10,  1886. 

*  Dear  Mr.  MacColl,— I  only  got  your  letter  yesterday. 
'  I  am  afraid  that  I  cannot  agree  with  you  about  Irish 

Home  Rule.  Even  if  I  thought  it  desirable — which  is  to 
me  an  impossible  supposition — I  should  not  think  that  I 
was  at  liberty  to  propose  it.     The  effect  of  Peel's  conduct 

*  On  the  Franchise  Bill. 


LORD  SALISBURY  281 

in  1829  and  1846  has  always  seemed  to  me  deplorable. 
The  only  person  among  our  statesmen  who  has  a  right  to 
propose  a  Home  Rule  Bill  is  Mr.  John  Morley.  But  I 
believe  and  hope  that  our  resistance  to  it  will  be  successful. 

'  Yours  faithfully, 

'  Salisbury.' 

December  13,  1887. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl,— The  matter  to  which  you  refer 
has  passed  by — and  is  now  a  matter  to  me  of  complete 
indifference.^  I  am  much  obhged  to  you  for  asking  my 
opinion,  but  I  do  not  desire  to  influence  your  action  in 
the  matter  in  either  direction. 

'  I  think  that  Lord  Derby  and  Lord  Beaconsfield  had 
both  acquired  an  exaggerated  view  of  Turkish  vitality 
and  power,  and  they  both  thought  that  my  recommenda- 
tions sacrificed  too  much  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

February  25,  1897. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obhged  to  you 
for  your  letter  of  the  22nd  conveying  to  me  the  very 
sorrowful  intelligence  that  Lady  Waterford  had  gone  from 
among  us.^ 

'  Her  life,  in  many  respects,  was  too  sad  for  words, 
though  she  had  all  the  material  conditions  of  happiness  for 
which  men  struggle.  Throughout  her  sorrows  she  pre- 
served a  saintly  character,  and  her  influence  has  brought 
help  and  guidance  to  many  minds.  Though  it  is  a  sad 
bereavement  for  many  friends,  one  cannot  regret  that  one, 
with  such  a  character,  has  found  unalloyed  peace  at  last, 
and  that  her  sorrows  have  ceased. 

'  The  daughters  are  deeply  to  be  pitied. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

*  A  supposed  frustration  of  Lord  Salisbury's  policy  in   Eastern   Europe, 
by  Lord  Derby  when  Foreign  Secretary. 
2  See  p.  241, 


282  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

October  19,  1897. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
your  letter  of  yesterday,  and  for  the  Russian  translation  of 
your  work  on  the  Eastern  Question  which  you  sent  me  at 
the  same  time.  You  commend  to  me  its  beauties  as  a 
specimen  of  Russian  printing.  I  am  afraid  those  are  the 
only  ones  of  its  merits  I  am  qualified  to  appreciate,  and 
I  fear  I  am  too  old  to  learn. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

October  14,  1898. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obUged  to  you 
for  your  letter  of  yesterday.  It  is  rash  to  be  sanguine  with 
respect  to  the  issue  of  any  Eastern  negotiation  ;  but  I  hope 
we  are  in  sight  of  a  satisfactory  conclusion  to  the  Cretan 
negotiation. 

'  I  am  afraid  the  upshot  of  our  experience  during  these 
last  two  years  is  that  the  Concert  of  Europe  is  too  ponderous 
a  machine  for  daily  use. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

September  6,  1901. 

'My  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  agree— and  have  long 
agreed — in  the  expediency  of  a  closer  friendship  with  Russia, 
By  predilection  I  am  an  old  Tory,  and  would  have  rejoiced 
if  we  had  been  able  to  maintain  the  friendship  with  Russia 
which  existed  in  1815. 

'  But  the  possibiHty  of  improving  our  relations  is  con- 
stantly growing  more  questionable.  Other  Statesmen  are 
acutely  watching  the  Chess-Board  of  Europe  :  and  they 
perfectly  know  that  a  real  sympathy  between  Russia  and 
England  would  place  the  other  Great  Powers  in  a  very 
inferior  position.  Therefore  they  will  lose  no  opportunity 
of  hindering  such  a  consummation  :  and  unfortunately  they 
have  too  many  opportunities  of  doing  so,  for  they  can  offer 
enlargement  of  Russian  territory  on  the  Chinese,  the  Persian, 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  283 

and  the  Turkish  frontier,  and  we  cannot  do  so.  Another 
insuperable  difficulty  lies  in  the  attitude  of  what  is  called 
pubhc  opinion  here.  The  diplomacy  of  nations  is  now 
conducted  quite  as  much  in  the  letters  of  special  corre- 
spondents, as  in  the  despatches  of  the  Foreign  Office.  The 
result  is  that  there  is  a  raw  state  of  irritation  between  the 
upper  classes  in  the  two  countries,  which  makes  any  advance 
on  the  part  of  either  Government  quite  impracticable.  If  a 
letter  could  be  made  to  give  room  for  further  reasons,  my 
catalogue  is  far  from  being  exhausted. 

'  I  wish  it  were  otherwise  :  but  wishing  is  no  good. 

'  I  do  not,  however,  draw  from  this  state  of  things  as 
gloomy  inferences  as  you  do.  I  understand  you  to  fear 
that  if  we  cannot  cure  the  present  evil,  we  run  the  risk 
of  the  ports  of  Rotterdam  and  Antwerp  falHng  into  hostile 
hands.  I  cannot  convince  myself  that  there  is  any  chance 
of  such  a  calamity,  until  we  have  fallen  far  lower  in  the 
scale  of  nations  than  has  happened  yet. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Salisbury.' 

September  9,  1901. 

'  My  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obliged  to 
you  for  your  paper  on  "  Bismarck's  fall  " — which  I  will 
read.  When  I  was  at  Berhn  in  1878,  Odo  Russell  told  us 
one  morning  that  Bismarck  had  been  saying  to  him  "  I  have 
spent  a  sleepless  night  thinking  of  the  entirely  exposed 
condition  of  my  country's  frontier  towards  Russia."  This 
is  in  harmony  with  Lord  Dufferin's  story. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 
'  Salisbury.' 


MacColl  left  the  following  account  of  his  intercourse 
with  Cardinal  Newman  : 

'  Newman's  beautiful  style  always  fascinated  me,  I  read 
everything  of  his  on  which  I  could  lay  my  hands,  and  my 


284  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

mind  became  so  imbued  with  his  style  that  I  think  I  could 
after  a  time  recognize  it  anywhere.  When  I  found  a  clue  to 
anything  of  his  that  was  buried  in  some  magazine  or  review 
or  journal  I  went  to  the  Reading-room  of  the  British  Museum 
to  read  it.  On  one  of  these  occasions  I  chanced  to  pick 
up  a  thin  pamphlet  bound  in  boards  which  consisted  of 
letters  addressed  to  the  Times  and  signed  "  Catholicus." 
They  were  a  criticism  of  an  address  delivered  by  Sir  Robert 
Peel  at  Tamworth,  in  which  the  great  Statesman  expatiated 
on  the  advantages  of  secular  knowledge  in  elevating 
humanity.  Newman's  criticism  on  this  address  led  him  to 
criticize  some  similar  utterances  by  Lord  Brougham.  I 
doubt  if  Newman  ever  wrote  anything  quite  so  brilliant  in 
a  light  yet  most  penetrating  vein.  I  concluded  at  once 
that  "  Catholicus  "  was  Newman,  and  was  greatly  surprised 
on  finding  a  notice  of  the  pamphlet  in  a  rehgious  magazine, 
which  confessed  an  entire  ignorance  of  the  authorship. 

'  It  was  said,  I  know  not  with  what  truth,  that  the 
Editor  of  the  Times  was  so  struck  b}'-  the  brilHancy  of  his 
letters  that  he  offered  Newman  £1800  a  year  if  he  would 
join  his  staff,  and  that  Newman  asked  if  he  could  have  a 
free  hand,  or,  on  the  contrary,  be  always  bound  to  express 
the  opinions  of  the  Times.  The  answ^er  was  that  he  would 
be  expected  to  express  the  opinions  of  the  Times.  Newman, 
though  comparatively  a  poor  man,  dechned  the  offer. 

'I  forget  what  induced  me  to  write  to  Dr.  Newman, 
as  he  then  was  ;  but  I  received  a  most  kind  letter  from  him 
in  reply  written  in  that  clear,  small,  neat  hand  which  was 
characteristic  of  some  other  Tractarian  leaders,  including 
Keble.  My  correspondence  with  him  lasted  till  his  death. 
On  his  invitation  I  paid  him  a  visit  at  Edgbaston,  and 
whenever  he  came  to  London  he  called  upon  me.  When 
in  London  he  stayed  with  his  old  friend,  Dean  Church,  and 
I  used  to  meet  him  there.  He  had  a  keen  sense  of  fun  and 
humour,  and  I  remember  his  laughing  heartily  over  a  story 
told  in  my  hearing  by  the  Rev.  William  Palmer  of  Magdalen, 
brother  of  the  late  Lord  Selborne.  The  story,  which  I 
repeated  to  Newman  in  Palmer's  own  words,  was  this  : 

'  A  lady  asked  Palmer  if  the  Russians  were  not  very 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  285 

superstitious,  and  fasted  a  great  deal  too  much.  "  Let  me 
tell  you  a  story,"  said  Palmer,  who  spoke  in  a  rather  thick 
voice,  as  if  his  tongue  was  rather  too  large  for  his  mouth. 
"  A  German  Lutheran  pedlar  was  once  travelling  in  the 
interior  of  Russia  with  his  bag  upon  his  back,  and  arrived 
one  night  at  the  house  of  a  poor  peasant,  who  made  him 
welcome,  and  entertained  him  as  he  best  could.  It  was 
Lent,  and  the  peasant  asked  the  pedlar  to  share  his  Lenten 
fare,  which  consisted  of  some  black  bread  and  cucumbers. 
The  pedlar,  not  relishing  the  fare,  opened  his  bag  and  took 
out  a  fat  sausage  and,  opening  a  clasp-knife,  cut  off  a  slice 
which  he  began  to  eat.  The  pious  peasant  was  so  shocked 
by  this  outrageous  breach  of  the  Lenten  fast,  that  he  got 
up  and  went  behind  the  pedlar  and  split  his  skull  open 
with  a  hatchet."  Newman  was  immensely  tickled  by  this 
exhibition  of  "  Piety." 

'  On  another  occasion  I  met  Newman  at  breakfast  at 
the  Deanery  of  St.  Paul's.  The  Dean  left  Newman  and 
myself  sitting  at  the  breakfast-table,  while  he  and  the  rest 
of  the  family  went  to  Cathedral.  Presently  Newman  said 
to  me  :  "I  have  not  heard  chanting  in  an  English  church 
for  a  long  time.  I  should  like  so  much  to  hear  it  again. 
Do  you  think  I  could  go  quietly  into  the  Cathedral  without 
disturbing  the  congregation  ?  " 

'  "  Of  course  you  can,"  I  said.  "  The  service  is  only 
just  beginning.  I  will  take  you  in  :  but  I  am  sorry  I  cannot 
stay  Mdth  you  for  I  am  obliged  to  go  to  Clifton  this  morning." 
I  took  him  into  the  Cathedral  and  left  him.  In  the  next 
Church  Times  I  was  surprised  and  grieved  to  read  the 
following  : 

'  "  Last  Monday,  a  venerable  white-haired  clergjinan, 
with  rather  shabby  clothes  and  hat,  was  seen  to  make  his 
way  into  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  just  after  the  service  had 
begun.  Presently  a  verger  went  to  him  and  said,  '  We 
want  none  of  your  sort  here,'  and  turned  him  out." 

'  I  dined  at  the  Deanery  a  few  days  afterwards  and  asked 
the  Dean  if  he  had  seen  the  paragraph  in  the  Church  Times. 
He  smiled  and  pulled  a  letter  out  of  his  pocket,  which  he 


286  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

handed  to  me.  It  was  from  Newman.  He,  too,  had  seen 
the  paragraph,  which  he  pasted  on  the  top  of  a  sheet  of 
notepaper  followed  by  these  words  : 

'  "  My  Dear  Church, — On  the  contrary,  it  was  a  good 
coat  and  a  new  hat,  for  I  was  on  my  way  to  pay  a  visit  to 
my  friend  Hope  Scott,  and  I  always  make  it  a  rule  to  dress 
well  when  I  visit  my  friends." 

'  The  Dean  wrote  back  : 

'  "  My  Dear  Newman, — But  I  hope  the  story  is  not  true 
at  all.  For  it  would  annoy  and  grieve  me  exceedingly 
that  you  should  be  treated  so  rudely.  So  I  hope  to  hear 
that  there  is  not  truth  in  the  story." 

'  To  this  Newman  replied  : 

'  "  My  Dear  Church, — Yes  there  is,  though  it  is  not 
quite  accurate.  What  happened  was  this  :  I  wanted  so 
much  to  hear  the  chanting,  and  MacCoU  kindly  took  me 
into  the  Cathedral.  Presently  a  verger  came  to  me  and 
offered  politely  to  put  me  in  one  of  the  stalls.  I  thanked  him 
for  his  courtesy,  and  said  that  I  preferred  to  remain  where 
I  was.  Presently  another  verger  came  and  made  the  same 
offer.  Him  also  I  thanked  and  said  that  I  preferred  to 
remain  where  I  was.  By  and  by  I  saw  another  verger 
coming  from  a  distance  with  a  menacing  aspect,  so  I  thought 
I  had  better  leave,  and  I  left  accordingly." 

'  Newman  always  wrote  to  me  with  exceeding  frank- 
ness, but  never  tried  to  shake  my  allegiance  to  the  Church 
of  England  or  induce  me  to  join  the  Church  of  Rome.' 


[The  Oratory],  May  29,  1861. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — I  am  glad  to  find  that  I  am  to  have 
the  pleasure  of  a  call  from  you  here,  when  you  come  to 
Birmingham.  You  do  not  know  my  feehngs,  if  you  think 
it  would  not  be  a  subject  of  great  interest  to  me  to  hear 
from  you  what  has  impressed  you  as  to  the  present  position 
and  prospects  of  the  Anghcan  Church — in  which  there  are 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  287 

so  many  truly  earnest  and  religious  men,  wishing  with  all 
their  hearts  to  learn  God's  truth  and  to  do  God's  will. 

'  You  must  not,  however,  suppose  that  it  was  good  news 
to  me  to  find  that  Mr,  Cheyne  ^  was  likely  to  resume  his 
position  in  the  Scotch  Church.  I  know  his  son-in-law  and 
daughter  well ;  and  many  have  been  the  good  prayers 
offered  that  the  harshness  with  which  he  has  been  treated 
in  his  own  communion  might  be  the  means  under  Providence 
of  bringing  him  under  the  shadow  of  the  Mother  of  Saints. 

'  As  to  my  writing  on  Faith  and  Reason,  I  feel  most 
keenly  the  vast  controversy  which  is  in  progress  ;  but  I  am 
too  old  for  such  an  undertaking. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

[Ventnor],  October  14,  1861. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — Your  letter  has  been  forwarded  to  me 
here,  where  I  am  for  a  day  or  two. 

'  As  to  Anglican  Orders,  the  onus  prohandi  of  course 
lies  with  those  who  assert  them — since  a  new  succession 
was  begun  in  Parker,  etc.  Now  I  have  never  been  able  to 
feel  that  they  were  proved  to  me. 

'  However,  the  validity  of  Anglican  Orders  seems  to 
me  a  narrow  argument  on  a  large  question.  First,  if  the 
essence  of  the  Church  lies  in  validity  of  Orders,  then  the 
Church  is  nothing  else  than  a  family — and  Rome  and  England 
are  one  only  in  the  sense  in  which  the  Israelites  and 
Ishmaelites  were  one.  Yet  is  this  sufficient  to  the  idea  of 
a  Church  ?  Surely  the  Church  is  not  merely  a  family,  but 
a  polity.  England  and  the  United  States  are  one  race, 
but  not  one  state — is  the  Church  one  only  in  the  sense  in 
which  John  Bull  and  the  Yankees  are  one  ? 

'  But  surely  the  Church  is  one,  not  only  as  a  state,  polity, 
or  government,  but  in  its  essence,  in  all  times,  as  well  as 
places. 

'  Now  if  I  ask  myself  what  is  that  body  in  the  world 
now,  which,  in  spite  of  all  changes,  St.  Ambrose  or  St. 
Augustine  would  acknowledge  as  like  what  they  were  used 

^  See  p.  15. 


288  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to — what  is  that  Church  whose  service,  did  they  enter  the 
sacred  walls,  they  would  find  their  own,  it  is  plain^  that  it 
would  not  be  any  dissenting  body,  nor  the  kirk,  nor  the 
Anglican  Church,  if  its  Sunday  service  represents  it,  but 
either  the  Greek  or  the  Latin — and  then,  when  we  consider 
the  questions  of  government,  autonomy,  action,  certainly 
not  the  Greek. 

'  But  these  are  large  subjects  which  can  be  spoken  of 
better,  than  run  through  in  a  few  pages  of  note-paper. 

'  Yours,  my  dear  Sir, 
'  Very  sincerely, 

'  John  H.  Newman, 

'  of  the  Oratory.' 

'  P.S. — Any  number  of  copies  of  my  Essay  on  Develop- 
ment of  Doctrine  may  be  had  at  Toovey's,  Piccadilly,  tho' 
the  booksellers  say  that  it  is  out  of  print. 

'  As  to  your  question  about  the  growth  of  Church 
principles  in  the  Anglican  Church,  I  rejoice  in  the  foci — 
but  as  to  the  why,  there  is  another  hypothesis  besides  that 
of  serving  as  a  Note  of  the  apostolicity  of  Anglicanism — it 
may  be  to  prepare  for  a  large  addition  of  members  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.' i 


May  25,  1865. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  not  the  person  to  consult 
when  you  want  an  opinion  on  so  difficult  a  book  as  "  Ecce 
Homo."  I  have  not  had  time  to  do  it  justice  ;  nor  did 
I  find  the  book  carry  me  on,  as  I  had  expected — and  then, 
I  was  perplexed  at  the  hypothesis  started  (which  your 
information  seems  to  confirm),  that  the  writer  was  a  man  of 
orthodox  belief,  simulating  liberaUsm.  And  it  seemed  to  me 
there  was  a  spirit  in  the  book,  for  which  I  had  no  sympathy 


MacColl  wrote  to  Gladstone  on  August  1,  1862 : 
'  Perhaps  the  enclosed  may  interest  you.  What  he  says  about  St.  Ambrose 
and  St.  Augustine  seems  specious  at  first  sight ;  but  surely  it  may  be  a  question 
whether  the  omission,  in  the  service  of  the  English  Church,  of  a  good  deal  of 
what  they  were  used  to  would  not  shock  them  less  than  the  addition,  in  the 
Roman  Church,  of  a  good  many  things  they  were  not  used  to.* 


I 


CARDINAL  NEWIVIAN  289 

— and  its  fancifulness  indisposed  me  to  take  much  interest 
in  it  on  its  own  account. 

'  I  tell  you  just  what  I  have  felt  about  it,  because  you 
ask  me— but  not  as  at  all  depreciating  it— or  thinking 
hghtly  of  the  abiUty  of  the  writer  (though  there  seemed  to 
me  a  haziness  about  his  fundamental  position),  or  being 
insensible  to  its  importance,  as  a  sign  of  the  times.  The 
sensation  it  has  made  is  certainly  very  remarkable,  and 
means  something  or  other. 

'  If  you  wish  to  see  more  definitely  what  I  think  of  it, 
I  must  refer  you  to  an  article  in  the  forthcoming  number 
of  the  Month  (for  June),  which  expresses  what  I  should 
say  about  it,  if  called  on  to  bring  out  my  meaning  fully. 
At  the  same  time  I  by  no  means  consider  that  Article  a 
complete  or  adequate  review  of  it. 

'  Excuse  a  hasty  note, 
'  and  believe  me, 
'  Very  truly  yours, 

'John  H.  Newman.' 

'  PS, — I  know  from  what  Mr.  Gladstone  wrote  to  me 
how  kindly  he  thinks  of  me.' 

February  4,  1866. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — Your  letter  is  far  too  kind  and  friendly 
— but  I  gladly  welcome  and  accept  it,  as  showing  the  feehngs 
you  entertain  towards  me,  and  testifying  to  those  of  others. 
Of  course  I  desire  the  good  opinion  of  such  persons  as  you 
represent,  and  I  only  have  to  pray  that  God  will  keep  me 
from  desiring  it,  or  taking  pleasure  in  it,  inordinately. 

'  I  will  beg  your  acceptance  of  my  Remarks  on  Dr.  Pusey's 
"  Eirenicon,"  and,  while  I  do  so,  I  am  going  to  ask  you  to 
let  me  leave  your  question  without  any  answer,  at  least 
for  the  present.  I  have  been  much  indisposed,  and  am 
only  just  recovering,  and  have  so  much  writing,  that  I  do 
not  know  how  to  get  through  it,  and  am  very  tired. 

*  I  had  seen  portions  of  your  vindication  of  Gladstone 
already,  and  am  glad  to  have  it  and  your  other  Pamphlets. 

'  You   must   not   suppose    I  have  not  read  your  and 

V 


290  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Mr.  Oxenham's  correspondence  with  interest,  because  I  do 
not  remark  upon  it,  but  it  is  impossible  to  say  what  has 
to  be  said  in  a  few  words.^ 

'  I  ought  to  have  stated  above  that,  as  I  wrote  my  Letter 
to  Pusey  with  the  set  view  of  lessening  the  difficulties  which 
Anglicans  feel  in  our  cultus  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  what 
you  say  about  my  Letter  is  especially  gratifying  to  me. 

■  I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'John  H.  Newman.' 

February  1,  1867. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  sorry  to  say  I  have 
not  read  your  article  yet.  The  book  has  been  on  my  table, 
and  I  have  wished  to  do  so,  but  my  time  is  so  cut  up  that  I 
have  not  been  able.  Besides,  so  great  an  object  cannot  be 
taken  up  in  an  odd  moment ;  and  perhaps  I  find  the  con- 
sideration of  such  more  fatiguing  than  heretofore,  and  my 
mind  goes  off  speculating  on  some  suggestive  remark  of  the 
author  I  am  reading,  and  so  I  lose  my  time.  You  may 
be  sure  it  is  one  of  those  Essays  which  I  shall  find  it  a 
duty  to  read,  because  I  expect  I  shall  gain  a  good  deal 
from  it. 

'  I  sold  the  copyright  of  the  "  Arians  "  to  Lumley  about 
ten  or  twelve  years  ago.  The  reprint  is  simply  his — and,  if 
my  memory  does  not  mislead  me,  I  should  have  liked,  but 
was  not  given  an  opportunity,  to  make  any  literary  correc- 
tions in  it.  I  am  not  aware  that  there  are  any  mistakes 
in  the  reprint — perhaps  they  will  be  found  in  the  original 
edition  also.  It  is  a  very  imperfect  work,  from  the  cir- 
cumstances of  its  composition.  I  have  nearly  always  had 
to  write  by  the  piece  and  to  order. 

'  Very  sincerely  yours, 

'John  H.  Newman.' 

'  P.S. — Very  many  thanks  for,  as  before,  your  friendly 
language  about  me.     As  to  my  Parochial  Sermons,  I  believe 

^  On  '  The  Catholic  Doctrine  of  the  Atonement.' 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  291 

they  will  soon  be  published  from  the  last  Anglican  Edition. 
A  writer  in  the  Guardian  has  put  about  a  strange  report 
about  my  feeling  towards  them,  which  I  never  heard 
before.' 

November  4,  1868. 

'My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  thank  you  sincerely  for 
your  Pamphlet.^  It  is  very  able  and  forcible.  I  hope  it 
will  be  widely  read.  I  think  already  I  have  observed  use 
made  of  it  in  speeches  at  the  Hustings. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

November  12,  1869. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl,  —I  should  have  answered  you 
before  this,  had  I  not  been  so  very  busy.  I  will  gladly  send 
you  another  copy  of  my  article,  Avhen  I  come  upon  one.  As 
to  Dr.  Temple's  appointment,^  it  is  a  subject  on  which  I 
don't  see  how  a  person  can  have  an  opinion,  unless  he  is 
bound  to  have  one.  So  much  can  be  said  on  either  side 
that,  unless  duty  enjoined  it,  I  should  never  be  able  to  make 
up  my  mind.  The  only  point  I  see  is,  that,  if  all  Bishops 
but  two  have  spoken  of  his  Essay  severely,  it  is  an  incon- 
sistency in  them  to  consecrate,  unless  he  explains  first — 
but  perhaps  they  have  not  spoken  severely,  in  Convocation, 
as  has  been  said. 

'  It  is  quite  a  mistake  that  I  am  writing  anything  on  such 
subjects  as  the  papers  have  said.  It  was  originally  given  out 
as  a  piece  of  gossip — perhaps  half  with  an  unfriendly  feeling 
on  the  part  of  some  Catholics,  who,  having  first  spread  their 
misstatement,  next,  when  no  book  came  out,  follow  it  up 
with  a  second,  viz.  that  it  had  been  suppressed  for  some 
reason  or  other.  A  lie  is  like  a  shuttlecock,  which  two 
battledores  can  keep  up  with  great  success,  if  skilfully  used, 
^vithout  its  falling  to  the  ground.  The  next  move  ought 
to  be  that  it  has  been  sent  for  to  Rome,  etc.,  etc. 

'  I  am  writing  a  small  work  on  a  definite  subject,  but 


On  the  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church. 
To  the  See  of  Exeter. 


u  2 


292  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

not  directly  on  any  subject  of  the  day,  but  as  an  enquiry 
into  certain  logical  principles,  and  I  venture  to  say  that, 
after  all  the  talk  that  has  gone  on  about  it,  it  will  disappoint 
friends  and  opponents  when  it  appears. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

'  P.S. — What  I  am  writing  is  not  a  "  first  part,"  but  all 
I  have  to  say — which  is  little  enough.' 

November  29,  1869. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  cannot  tell  whether 
anciently  books  were  condemned  without  their  authors 
being  allowed  to  defend  them,  but  we  must  consider  how 
few  instances  were  possible,  in  the  rarity  of  books  then 
published,  if  we  can  talk  of  publication. 

'  There  was  no  public  then  ;  and  if  one  wrote  a  heretical 
book,  and  his  diocesan  lived  next  door,  he  would  naturally 
talk  to  him  about  it,  and  hear  what  he  had  to  say.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  great  multitude  of  publications  in  a  day  like 
this,  not  only  preclude  a  personal  treatment  of  them,  but 
make  another  treatment  imperative.  A  book  is  thrown 
upon  the  world  with  the  best  intentions,  and  yet  may  do 
a  vast  deal  of  mischief.  There  are  wrong-headed  men  who 
always  have  a  good  sense,  though  they  use  most  erroneous 
language.  Volat  irrevocabile  verbum,  with  a  substantive, 
definite  meaning.  The  Church  claims  to  pronounce  in- 
fallibly when  the  legitimate  meaning  of  a  book  is  bad, 
and  warns  the  faithful.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the 
pronouncements  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Index  are 
infallible,  but  that  the  duty  and  the  power  of  determining 
the  absolute  sense  of  a  book  is  quite  intelligible.  Whether 
it  is  exercised  judiciously  or  not  in  a  particular  case  is  quite 
another  thing,  but  for  myself  I  have  no  doubt  about  the 
principle. 

'  Some  Catholic  papers  delight  in  putting  in  gossip  about 
me.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  set  up  a  puppet  in  order  to  knock 
it  down.  There  is  just  as  much  truth  in  saying  I  ever 
dreamed  of  writing  on  Faith  or  Rationalism,  as  in  saying 


I 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  293 

that  any  person  in  authority  ever  dreamed  of  hindering  me  ; 
and  that  is,  no  truth  at  all. 

'  I  make  it  a  rule  not  to  notice  these  things  except  under 
special  circumstances,  for,  if  I  said  A,  I  must  say  B  and  C. 
The  best  answer  to  the  present  gossip  will  be  the  appearance 
of  my  little  book,  which  will  show  I  neither  have  been 
Avriting  on  Rationalism  nor  have  been  stopped  from 
writing.  The  book  is  about  "  Assent,"  and  is  a  very 
humble  affair.^ 

'  I  heard  that  Archbishop  Manning  considers  the  Day 
of  Judgment  certain  to  come  in  a  few  years.  Whether  this 
is  better  than  the  above  gossip  about  myself  I  know  not — 
but  it  is  an  answer  anyhow  to  your  astonisliment  about  his 
Pastoral.^ 

'  Very  sincerely  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

November  8,  1870. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  ought  long  ago  to  have 
thanked  you  for  the  account  of  the  Ammergau  Represen- 
tation, which  you  were  so  good  as  to  send  me. 

'  My  silence  was  not  from  neglect.  I  read  it  with  great 
interest,  having  already  read  it  once,  and  most  of  it,  in  the 
Times.  Only  I  have  so  many  letters  to  write,  I  put  off  my 
thanks  from  time  to  time,  but  the  book  has  all  along  been 
on  my  table  to  remind  me  of  my  duty. 

'  It  forms  a  valuable  record  of  a  very  remarkable  relic 
of  medieval  Christianity. 

'  I  am,  most  truly  yours, 

'John  H.  Newman.' 

May  1,  1872. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl,— I  am  very  glad  to  hear  you 
are  going  to  write  in  defence  of  retaining  the  Athanasian 
Creed  in  the  Anglican  Prayer  Book. 

'  In  answer  to  your  question,  first  I  would  say,  as  you  arc 
aware,  that  the  Apostles'  Creed  is  emphatically  our  Creed. 
As  we  always  impose  it  in  the  sense  and  according  to  the 

^  An  Essay  in  aid  of  a  Qrammar  of  Assent. 

"  The.  (Ecumenical  Council,  and  the  Infallibility  of  the  Roman  Pontiff. 


294  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

teaching  of  the  Church,  it  stands  for  our  whole  faith,  a.s 
being  the  symbol  and  substance  of  the  Apostolic  depositum, 
which,  received  from  the  beginning,  is  defined  with  greater 
and  greater  accuracy  and  fulness  of  explanation  as  time 
goes  on. 

'  The  only  question  is  whether  the  so-called  Athanasian 
Creed  is  one  of  our  popular  devotions,  or  expositions  of  our 
faith,  as  regards  its  sacred  subject,  recommended  to  the 
laity. 

'  Here  first  you  must  recollect  we  have  nothing  answering 
to  the  Anglican  Prayer  Book  with  us,  no  Common  Prayer. 
Devotions  are  in  great  measure  left  to  the  private  judgment 
of  the  individual.  As  to  the  Breviary,  it  is  not,  properly 
speaking,  congregational  at  all.  It  is  the  solemn  prayer  of 
the  clergy,  the  united  prayer,  said  by  each  separately  from 
the  impracticability  of  saying  it  together,  though  such  union 
is  recommended,  and  actually  said  by  them  together  in 
chapters,  collegiate  churches,  monastic  bodies,  etc. 

'  Such  public  service  the  laity  may  attend — may  join 
in — in  some  countries,  as  in  France,  have  been  used  to 
join  in — but  they  might  come  to  church,  while  it  went  on, 
and  say  their  own  private  prayers  under  (so  to  say)  the 
Shadow  and  in  the  power  of  it,  joining  in  heart  with  the 
Latin  service,  but  using  the  while  their  own  private  prayers 
— under  the  feeling  that  all  Christians  are  one,  and  have 
substantially  the  same  needs  and  petitions,  and  that  their 
hearts  are  all  open  to  God.  They  would  join  with  the  choir, 
as  being  helped  by  them  and  helping  them  also. 

'  The  Athanasian  Creed,  as  you  know,  comes  into  the 
Office  of  Prime  as  one  of  its  Psalms  on  Sunday,  and  is  not 
presented  to  the  laity  by  the  Church  .  .  .  except  in  this 
very  indirect  way. 

'  But  again,  I  have  said  that  devotions,  regarded  as 
private  and  personal  acts,  are  left  to  each  individual, 
ecclesiastic  or  lay  ;  this  is  simply  the  case,  except  that,  if 
anyone  suspected  his  forms  of  prayer  to  be  unadvisablc, 
he  would  take  the  opinion  of  his  priest. 

'And  further,  of  course  the  Church  does  express 
her  opinion    in    a    general    way — at  Rome  especially,  by 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  295 

indulgencing  certain  devotions.  These  prayers  are  collected 
together  in  a  book  called  the  Raccolta,  and,  though 
obligatory  on  no  one,  have  a  special  sanction  and  recom- 
mendation from  the  reward  annexed  to  their  use.  Not 
that  this  is  decisive  or  final— for  I  recollect  our  Jesuit 
director  telling  us  at  Rome,  that,  if  certain  prayers  suited 
us  better,  we  ought  to  keep  to  them  rather  than  to 
indulgenced  prayers. 

'  Here  again  the  Athanasian  Creed  is  wanting,  for  it  is 
not  (I  beHeve)  one  of  the  indulgenced  devotions. 

'  But  further,  in  each  country  the  local  ecclesiastical 
authority  not  exactly  provides,  but  sanctions  certain 
devotions.  Hence  we  have  various  popular  prayer-books, 
of  a  miscellaneous  character,  containing  prayers  and  offices 
for  all  classes  of  the  faithful  and  for  all  circumstances, 
such  as  the  "  Garden  of  the  Soul,"  etc. 

'  Now,  as  to  the  French  and  Irish  prayer-books,  some  of 
them,  as  the  "  Key  of  Heaven,"  and  the  "  Ursuline  Manual," 
do  not  contain  the  Athanasian  Creed  ;  but  the  English  all 
of  them  do,  viz.  the  "  Garden  of  the  Soul,"  which  dates  from 
the  time  of  Bishop  Challoner  a  century  ago,  the  "  Golden 
Manual,"  the  "  Crown  of  Jesus,"  and  the  "  Path  of 
Heaven."  The  Athanasian  Creed  is  in  all  these  popular 
books,  and  the  use,  or  at  least  the  perusal  and  knowledge 
of  that  Creed,  is  part  of  our  good  EngHsh  tradition. 

'  I  am  sorry  to  have  had  a  new  edition  of  the  "  Garden  of 
the  Soul  "  by  Washbourne  sent  me  within  the  last  few  days, 
in  which  it  was  left  out.  I  wrote  to  remonstrate  at  once. 
Since  such  Manuals  must  be  portable,  the  new  devotions 
are  thrusting  out  the  old  ones  ;  but  it  is  very  hard  the 
Athanasian  Creed  should  go.  I  hear  Mr.  Washbourne's 
edition  is  found  fault  with  on  other  accounts — and  I  hope 
the  Creed  will  be  added  in  an  Appendix. 

'  1  am  glad  you  are  pleased  with  my  lately  republished 
Essays.  It  is  always  a  toss  up  whether  what  was  written 
for  an  ephemeral  purpose  will  bear  the  broad  daylight  of 
a  later  year. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

*  John  H.  Newman. 


296  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

May  3,  1872. 

•  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  sorry  to  hear  from  you 
that  any  old  Edition  of  the  "  Garden  of  the  Soul  "  omits  the 
Athanasian  Creed.  I  see  by  the  Guardian  that  M.  Michaud 
(is  that  the  name  ?)  confirms  what  I  feared  about  its  omission 
in  the  French  prayer-books.  I  should  heartily  rejoice  to 
find  it  used  in  our  popular  devotions.  A  Jesuit  Father 
lately  suggested  to  me  its  introduction  into  the  rite  of 
Benediction — but  I  doubt  AA^hether  it  could  be  done  without 
special  leave  from  the  Bishop. 

'  Dr.  Murray  is  a  great  authority,  but  he  speaks  vaguely 
and  irrelevantly.  But  perhaps  /  misunderstand  your  ques- 
tion, not  he.  I  thought  you  wished  to  know  the  position  of 
the  Creed  in  reference  to  the  faithful  generally,  whether  it 
was  taught  them,  whether  it  was  tised  by  them.  That  it  is 
the  authoritative  Word  of  the  Church,  and  the  infallible 
ansAver  of  the  Church  to  all  her  children  who  ask  questions 
on  the  subjects  of  which  it  speaks,  is  quite  certain.  But 
I  cannot  call  it  the  Creed  of  the  Church,  except  as  we  talk 
of  the  "  Creed  of  Pope  Pius  IV."  All  the  faithful  know  by 
heart  the  Apostles'  Creed — all  the  faithful  use  the  Nicene 
Creed  in  Mass  ;  but  nowhere  do  the  faithful  use — nowhere 
is  enjoined  upon  them — the  Athanasian  Creed.  The  nearest 
approach  to  it  is  its  insertion  in  our  prayer-books  ;  and 
it  grieves  me,  as  I  have  said,  to  find  that,  from  the  press 
of  new  matter,  it  is  losing  its  place  in  them. 

'  As  to  your  specific  question,  "  holds  the  sa77ie  place,"  I 
don't  think  that  our  use  of  the  Creed  admits  of  being  com- 
jmred  to  yours.  You  impose  it  authoritatively  on  all  your 
members  in  public  worship — they  all  use  it  A'-ocally.  We 
have  nothing  answering  to  your  Prayer  Book.  If  all  our 
"Gardens  of  the  Soul,"  "Keys  of  Heaven,"  etc.,  etc., 
contained  it,  still  this  would  not  be  more  than  a  recom- 
mendation of  its  use — its  use  would  be  left  to  the  discretion, 
the  private  judgment  of  each  individual.  You  im^pose  it ; 
but  your  method  is  one  of  imposition.  It  is  no  sound 
argument  that  you  should  remove  it  from  your  Common 
Prayer,  because  we  haven't  it  in  our  Common  Prayer,  for 
we  have  no  united,  vocal,  Common  Prayers  ;   and  you  might 


J 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  297 

as  well  say  that  you  might  leave  out  the  Ten  Command- 
ments becaur^e  we  have  not  the  Ten  Commandments  read 
in  Church,  for  we  have  no  imperative  common  prayers, 
such  as  yours. 

'  The  Athanasian  is  imposed  upon  our  clergy,  but  the 
clergy  is  not  the  laity. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

May  26,  1872. 

'My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  have  little  to  say,  except 
that  your  pages  read  very  well,  in  spite  of  their  having 
to  embody  a  quotation. 

'  In  my  own  words  I  have  nothing  to  alter,  and  send 
them  back  with  the  imprimatur  of  a  friend. 

'  I  have  noticed  one  sentence  in  page  11,  and  should  add 
that  one  omission  of  the  Creed  would  by  itself  scarcely 
constitute  a  mortal  sin,  though,  if  it  were  omitted  again  and 
again,  or  omitted  once  through  contempt  of  the  authority 
enforcing  it,  it  would  be  such. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

May  30,  1872. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  have  read  your  sheets  (pp.  1-80) 
with  great  pleasure  ;  you  have  written  very  forcibly,  and, 
when  the  subject  required  it,  eloquently.^  I  hope  the 
pamphlet  will  have  a  wide  circulation,  and  will  do  the  good 
which  it  promises  to  do. 

'  I  wish  you  had  divided  your  subjects  and  arguments 
from  each  other,  either  by  "  1,  2,  3,"  etc.,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  paragraph,  or  by  a  line. 

'  Also,  to  go  on  criticizing,  though  of  course  I  am  truly 
pleased  and  grateful  at  your  various  references  to  me,  I 
doubt  the  rhetoric  of  it.  It  tempts  a  reader  to  say,  "  What 
is  Dr.  Newman  to  me  ?  " — e.g.  at  p.  21  might  you  not,  instead 
of  repeating  my  name,  say,  "as  my  informant  says,"  or 

'  The  Damnatory  Clauiies  rationally  explained. 


298  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

the  like  ?  At  p.  3,  "  Half  the  controversies  in  the  world, 
says  the  same  writer,"  or  the  like  ?  At  p.  24,  instead  of 
"  Dr.  Newman's  observation,"  "  This  observation,"  though 
a  word  must  be  inserted  to  hinder  disarrangement  of  the 
type.     I  hope  I  don't  take  a  liberty  in  thus  observing. 

'  P.  2. — I  have  written  in  my  life  more  letters  of  course 
than  I  can  recollect — so  I  am  not  surprised  at  not  remem- 
bering that  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Archer  Butler,^  but  I  did  not 
know  till  now  that  he  had  published  any  letter  of  mine, 
and  at  least  I  don't  think  I  ever  gave  him  leave. 

'  P.  3. — Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  correct  a  false  print 
in  my  last  Edition  (from  which  you  have  quoted)  of  my 
University  Sermons,  and  for  "  each  other  mean,"  in  the  last 
line  but  one,  print  "  each  other  means." 

'  P.  32.— I  quoted  Jeremy  Taylor's  "  State  of  Man  "  in 
the  first  two  editions  of  my  Letter  to  Dr.  Pusey,  and  Arch- 
deacon Churton  wrote  to  (I  think)  the  Guardian  to  say  that 
it  was  not  Taylor's— consequently  I  left  the  reference  out 
in  my  3rd  ed.,  wording  my  sentence  "  the  work  which  had 
the  sanction  of  Jeremy  Taylor,"  for  that  I  think  it  had. 
It  is  contained  in  Heber's  edition,  but,  I  am  told,  left  out 
in  Eden's. 

'  I  have  marked  one  or  two  false  prints. 

'  Very  sincerely  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

July  6,  1872. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  thank  you  very  much  for 
your  pamphlet.  I  have  not  yet  read  it  through — but  have 
read  enough  to  be  very  glad  it  runs  to  so  many  pages — and 
hope  and  expect  it  will  have  a  very  wide  circulation. 

'  I  see  an  agitation  is  beginning  again  under  Lord 
Shaftesbury  ^ — what  is  the  value  of  it,  I  do  not  know  ;  but 
John  Bull  does  not  like  to  be  beaten,  and  I  suppose  Lord  S. 
will  do  all  he  can  in  corroboration  of  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Stanley, 
etc.,  who  are  strange  alHes  for  him  in  any  rehgious  matter. 
I  am  glad  that  Dr.  Pusey  is  out  of  the  way  in  Switzerland, 

^  William  Archer  Butler,  a  Roman  priest  who  joined  the  Established  Church. 
*  Against  the  public  use  of  the  Athanasian  Creed. 


i 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  299 

during   this   fresh   attack — the  whole   question   tries   him 
so  much. 

'  Thank  you  for  what  you  say  of  me  in  your  letter. 
'  Yours  very  sincerely, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

December  10,  1872. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl,— Mr.  Ffoulkes  i  is  one  of  the 
most  impertinent  men  that  I  ever  came  across.  Though 
very  different,  I  think  he  is  another  Golightly.^ 

'  I  should  be  seriously  annoyed,  if  he  is  damaging  your 
pamphlet.  You  know  I  cautioned  you  against  introducing 
my  name. 

'  You  may  publish  any  letters  of  mine  with  all  my 
heart — but  take  care  you  are  not  making  too  much  of  what 
may  be  very  insignificant ;  it  becomes  great,  if  you  make  it 
great.  A  line  of  yours  in  the  Guardian  tossing  off  the 
insinuation  might  be  enough.  To  answer  Mr.  Ffoulkes 
seriously  is  like  fighting  with  a  blue-bottle  fly. 

'  As  to  the  Guardian's  criticism  of  me  in  September,  in 
re  Capes, 3  I  said  to  a  friend  when  I  read  it,  "  The  Editor  is 
away — here  is  an  occasional  hand  making  play."  It  seems 
I  was  right — not  that  I  know  the  Editor  ;  but  the  paragraph 
seemed  out  of  keeping  with  the  Guardian — somewhat  elabo- 
rate. Be  assured  I  did  not  think  of  it  twice.  My  answer 
to  Capes  was  quite  deliberate— rightly  or  wrongly  the  very 
style  and  tone  of  it  had  a  meaning. 

'  Yours  very  sincerely, 

'John  H.  Newman.' 

The  Oratory,  December  13,  1872. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl,— Certainly  I  ought  to  have 
observed  the  passage  about  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's 
"hounding."^ 

1  The  Rev.  E.  S.  Ffoulkes.  an  Anglican  clergyman  who  seceded  to  the 
Church  of  Rome  and  returned  to  the  Church  of  England.  Published  a  treatise 
on  the  Athanasian  Creed  in  1871. 

-  The  Rev.  C.  P.  Golightly,  known  as  '  The  Oxford  Spy.' 

^  The  Rev.  .J.  M.  Capes,  an  Anglican  clergyman  who  seceded,  returned,  and 
seceded  again. 

"  MacColl  had  spoken  of  the  Anglican  Bishops  as  having  '  hounded '  Newman 
out  of  the  Church  of  England. 


300  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  And  my  only  excuse  is  that  my  eyes  are  not  so  good 
as  they  were,  and  I  do  not  catch  every  word  in  a  sentence 
in  reading. 

'  On  the  contrary,  I  have  made  him  an  exception  to 
the  Bishops  in  a  note  on  the  5th  Lecture  of  my  AngUcan 
Difficulties,  which  runs  as  follows  : 

'  "  The  author  can  never  forget  the  great  kindness  of 
Dr.  Bagot,  etc.,  etc.  He  has  also  to  notice  the  courtesy 
of  Dr.  Thirlwall's  language,  a  prelate  he  has  never  had  the 
honour  of  knowing." 

'  I  am  not  aware  that  he  made  any  protest  against  the 
hounding — or  did  anything  to  hinder  it ;  but  of  course  he 
may  have  done  so  in  private,  for  what  one  knows.  In  his 
Charge  at  the  time  I  think  he  took  a  distinct  part  against 
me — but  in  a  very  temperate  and  gentlemanhke  way. 

'  Yours  most  sincerely, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

'  P.S. — Since  writing  the  above  I  have  found  Thirlwall's 
Charge  in  October  1842,  and  I  transcribe  on  a  separate 
paper  some  extracts  of  it. 

'  The  whole  passage  takes  up  12  pages  oct.  If  you 
think  it  worth  while  to  reprint  it,  I  wiU  willingly,  since 
your  mistake  arose  from  my  carelessness  against  my  better 
knowledge,  bear  the  expense  of  it.  I  think  I  was  occupied 
with  the  subject  of  your  book,  and  my  eye  passed  over 
whatever  did  not  directly  belong  to  it.' 

[From  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  Charge,  October  1842. 

'  ,  .  .  Some  much  more  important,  as  well  as  difficult 
questions  are  suggested  by  the  last  Tract  of  the  Series, 
entitled  "  Remarks  on  certain  passages  in  the  39  Articles." 

'  .  .  .It  has  been  sometimes  represented  as  if  he  (the 
author)  held  it  allowable  for  one  who  subscribes  the  Articles 
to  reject  their  obvious,  liberal,  and  grammatical  sense,  and 
to  substitute  another  more  conformable  to  his  own.  pre- 
conceived notion  of  Catholic  doctrine.  This  is  a  principle 
which  would  be  alarmingly  dangerous,  if  it  were  not  so 
flagrantly  absurd.     But  I  do  not  perceive  that  it  is  implied 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  301 

either  in  the  account  which  the  author  gives  of  his  object 
at  the  outset,  or  in  the  concluding  remarks  with  which  he 
meets  a  supposed  objection  (p.  60). 

'  .  ,  .  The  arbitrary  misuse  of  the  word  Protestantism 
by  which  its  meaning  has  been  hmited  to  a  mere  negation  of 
everything  that  men  on  both  sides  profess  to  revere  (p.  69). 

'  .  ,  .  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  such  views  and  feelings 
are  inconsistent  with  the  obligations  of  a  minister  of  our 
Church,  or  with  a  sincere  attachment  to  her  (p.  70). 

'  .  .  .  I  am  aware,  my  Reverend  Brethren,  that  the 
language  of  moderation  is  commonly  least  welcome  where  it 
is  most  needed.  .  .  .  Be  on  your  guard  against  the  illusions 
of  names  and  phrases,  and  against  the  influence  of  authority 
in  this  matter,  etc.  (p.  72).'] 

December  29,  1872. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — Accept  from  me  for  yourself 
and  all  dear  to  you  the  best  wishes  of  the  Sacred  Season. 

'  How  could  the  Dublin  say,  or  whence  did  it  gain  the 
report,  that  I  had  "  revised  "  your  Pamphlet  ?  I  never 
see  the  Dublin,  and  did  not  know  that  it  had  said  so,  till 
you  told  me  of  Mr.  Ffoulkes'  impertinence.  I  am  sure  the 
report  did  not  come  from  this  place.  We  have  no  deaUngs 
with  the  Dublin  or  the  Tablet,  and,  though  it  is  just  possible 
that  some  one  in  this  house  saw  your  proof-sheets  on  my 
table,  yet  it  is  very  unlikely — and  even  if  anyone  did,  he 
would  not  think  about  it,  understand  it,  or  report  it. 

'  I  have  a  very  dim  memory  about  Dr.  Thirlw all's  name, 
but  I  now  think  I  did  see  the  passage — passed  it  over, 
saying  to  myself,  "  I  suppose  he  is  referring  to  something 
that  has  come  out,  or  that  was  done  at  the  time  which  I 
do  not  know."  My  knowledge  went  no  further  than  1842. 
But  my  memory  has  got  so  confused  that  I  might  easily 
be  made  to  contradict  myself,  if  I  were  cross-examined  in 
court. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  John  H.  New^ian.* 

'  P.S. — I  am  amused  to  find  that  Mr.  Ffoulkes  has  been 
overset  after  all  by  a  Palaeographer.     As  to  his  book  you 


302  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

were  kind  enough  to  send  me,  shall  I  send  it  you  back, 
or  add  it  to  others  which  I  have  on  the  controversy  ?  I 
don't  especially  esteem  it,  but  I  have  already  some  to 
match  it.' 

January  19,  1873. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — Had  I  known  what  Bishop 
Thirlwall  had  said  in  his  Charge  of  1845,  I  don't  think 
I  should  have  thanked  him  for  his  courtesy  in  1842. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 


January  4,  1875. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — On  Mondays  I  have  no  proofs 
from  London — so  I  take  up  my  pen  to  wish  you  a  very 
happy  new  year,  and  to  try  to  make  up,  as  far  as  a  few 
words  can  do  so,  for  my  silence  hitherto. 

'  As  to  Mr.  Ward,-^  you  can  tell  me  nothing  more 
extravagant  about  his  view  of  me  than  I  know  already. 
He  has  told  my  friends  that  I  am  in  material  heresy,  that 
he  would  rather  not  have  men  made  CathoHcs  than  have 
them  converted  by  me,  and  that  he  accounts  it  the  best 
deed  of  his  life  that  he  hindered  my  going  to  Oxford  by  the 
letters  he  sent  to  Rome,  etc.  He  is  so  above-board,  and 
outspoken,  that  he  is  quite  charming.  It  is  the  whisperers, 
and  I  have  long  suffered  from  them,  whom  (as  Dickens 
says)  I  "  object  to."  But  both  whisperers  and  out-speakers 
had  received  a  blow  over  the  knuckles  from  Fessler's 
pamphlet,  which  has  the  Pope's  approbation,  and  simul- 
taneously with  its  being  known  in  this  country  I  have  been 
afforded  an  opportunity  ...  by  answering  Mr.  Gladstone, 
to  break  a  silence  which  I  so  long  have  observed. 

'  In  saying  this,  you  must  not  suppose  that  my  direct 
reason  for  writing  was  to  protest  against  men  like  Mr.  Ward 
— time  will  answer  them  without  me.  But  it  so  happens 
that  the  intense  indignation,  which  Mr.  Gladstone  has  excited 
among  CathoUcs,  has  led  to  their  being  very  pressing  with 

*  W.  G.  Ward,  Editor  of  the  Dublin  Review. 


t 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  303 

me  to  come  forward,  as  otherwise  I  should  never  have  done. 
Of  course,  I  may  make  mistakes  as  well  as  others — but 
it  is  well  for  the  world  to  be  told  that  those  wild  views, 
which  have  been  put  forward  as  the  sole  and  true  Catholic 
ones,  are  not  what  they  pretend  to  be. 

'  As  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  letter,  I  think  it  quite  shocking. 
I  should  not  have  thought  it  possible  that  a  statesman  could 
be  so  one-sided.  With  you  I  agree  most  fully  that  "  he 
wears  his  heart  upon  his  sleeve,"  but  that  does  not  seem 
to  me  an  excuse  for  charges  so  serious,  so  inaccurate,  and 
so  insulting.^ 

'  I  suppose  I  shall  be  out  in  a  week  or  ten  days. 
'  Very  sincerely  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

March  6,  1875. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  should  have  answered  your 
letter  before  this,  had  I  not  been  so  busy.  Not  that  I  have 
done  a  great  deal,  but  when  the  time  is  taken  out  of  the  day 
which  my  Priesthood  and  our  Rule,  and  meals,  and  exercise, 
and  the  weariness  of  old  age  exact,  httle  time  is  left  for 
work  or  letters. 

'  Nothing,  of  course,  can  be  kinder  than  Mr.  Gladstone's 
language  about  me — it  is  of  a  character  indeed  to  frighten  me. 
As  to  his  argument,  I  feel  about  it,  so  far  as  it  concerns  me, 
what  I  felt  about  his  first  pamphlet — that  it  is  most  difficult 
to  find  what  he  means  to  be  his  reasons  for  the  definite  and 
specific  positions  which  he  takes  up  against  me  ;  and,  while 
I  am  waiting  for  them  or  looking  about  for  them  in  the  jungle 
in  which  they  he,  I  find  he  suddenly  proclaims  himself 
victor  and  marches  off  to  another  point.  I  hope  I  don't 
seem  ungrateful  to  him  in  your  eyes  for  thus  speaking,  for 
I  really  do  believe  one  reason  of  this  appearance  in  his 
controversial  method,  is  his  great  desire  to  deal  tenderly 
with  me  ;   but  in  consequence  it  has  cost  me  some  trouble 

'  In  November  1874'Glaclstone  issued  a  pamphlet  called  The  Vaticayi  Decrees 
considered  in  their  hearing  on  Civil  Allegiance,  and  in  February  1875  a  second, 
called  Vaticanism  :  an  answer  to  replies  and  reproofs.  Newman's  reply  to 
Gladstone's  attack  was  called  A  Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk. 


304  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  do  justice  to  his  arguments.  However,  I  have  no  thought 
of  provoking  the  controversy,  though  in  the  next  edition 
of  my  Letter  I  shall  add  a  Postscript  making  two  or  three 
remarks  on  his  "  Vaticanism,"  in  defence  of  what  I  have 
said. 

'  One  of  the  incidental  disadvantages  of  a  General  Council 
is  that  it  throws  individual  units  through  the  Church  into 
confusion  and  sets  them  at  variance  ...  so  was  it  at  the 
first  century,  the  third,  the  fourth,  the  sixth,  and  the 
seventh.  The  consequence  is  schism  and  heresy.  I  am 
neither  surprised  then  at  the  rise  of  the  Alt-CathoUcs  on 
one  side,  nor  at  the  extravagances  of  Dr.  Ward,  etc.,  on 
the  other.  Of  course  no  one  can  write  without  mistakes, 
and  in  details  my  recent  Pamphlet  doubtless  may  be 
rightly  criticized  by  Catholics  ;  but  it  is  my  great  comfort 
and  happiness  to  find  it  has  been  generally  accepted  by  all 
shades  of  Catholic  opinion  both  in  England  and  Ireland, 
as  substantially  unexceptionable,  and,  as  time  goes  on,  I 
think  this  will  be  felt  more  and  more. 

'  Most  truly  yours, 

'John  H.  Newman.' 

July  11,  1877. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  very  glad  to  have  your 
two  valuable  books,  and  thank  you  for  them.  They  are 
books  for  a  hbrary,  not  only  interesting  at  the  moment — 
and  I  have  to  thank  you  also  for  your  friendly  language  in 
them  about  me. 

'  I  was  very  glad,  too,  to  meet  you  at  the  Deanery  the 
other  day.  Did  not  you  promise,  when  here,  that  you  would 
come  here  again,  if  you  came  this  way  ? 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

August  15,  1877. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — You  must  not  look  upon  the 
book  which  I  am  about  to  send  you  as  a  polemical  mission — 
but  you  have  been  kind  enough  to  send  me  several  books, 
of  great  interest,  and  I  do  not  like  not  to  show  that  I  am 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  305 

grateful  for  them — and  I  have  no  other  means  of  doing  so 
than  what  at  first  sight  is  an  awkward  one. 

'  You  must  not  forget  your  promise  to  call  here  if  you 
come  this  way. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Newman.' 

[RednaU],  April  16,  1883. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  feel  some  shame  in  having  to 
say  that  I  have  a  very  vague  notion  what  the  Affirmation 
Bill  is,  and  a  simple  ignorance  what  the  Amendment  to  it 
may  be. 

'  This  has  led  me  to  read  your  printed  letter  over 
twice  or  three  times,  and  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion, 
which  on  the  whole  I  suppose  is  right,  that  the  Government 
propose  to  substitute  an  affirmation  for  an  oath  on  fresh 
M.P.'s,  and  that  the  Conservatives  prefer  a  profession  of 
Theism  in  some  shape,  with  the  option  of  not  taking  it 
granted  to  each  Member. 

'  You  will  think  my  want  of  interest  to  be  strange  ;  but 
I  think  it  imphes  that  in  the  main  I  agree  with  you.  At 
least,  two  years  ago,  when  the  question  of  protesting  against 
abolishing  the  Parhamentary  recognition  of  Almighty  God 
came  before  me,  I  felt  that,  since  Christianity  had  ceased 
to  be  the  reUgion  of  Parhament  for  many  years,  the  God  of 
the  Christians  was  no  longer  the  God  of  Parliament,  and 
I  did  not  see  what  was  gained  by  acknowledging  any  God 
but  Him  Who  in  Scripture  and  the  Creed  is  defined  to  be 
"  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth  "  and  "  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  I  had  other  reasons  for  being  indisposed  to 
protest,  but  this  I  beheve  was  the  main  one.  But  when  you 
ask  me  whether  you  may  print  my  words,  I  do  not  feel  that 
it  is  my  place  to  do  now  what  I  did  not  do  two  years  ago. 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'John  H.  Card.  Newman.' 

[RednaU],  April  26,  1883. 

*  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — There  is  one  consideration  which, 
since  I  wrote,  I  learn  from  the  Papers,  which  I  think  would 


306  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

weigh  with  me,  if  I  had  to  give  an  opinion,  not  to  take  so 
active  a  part  as  you  are  taking. 

'  Perhaps  I  am  mistaken  in  my  fact,  but  it  is  stated  that 
great  numbers  of  Anghcan  laymen  all  through  the  country, 
as  represented  by  parochial  petitions  to  Parhament,  are 
shocked  at  what  seems  to  them  a  sanction  of  atheism. 
Perhaps  you  will  say  that  the  petitions  are  really  the  work 
of  one  or  two  men,  e.g.  the  Incumbent  in  each  parish  ;  and 
that  the  people  did  not  get  nearer  to  the  truth  than  to  sup- 
pose that  Gladstone  was  an  atheist.  But  if,  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  a  genuine  protest  against  atheism,  and  a  fear  of  its 
spreading,  have  we  a  right  to  throw  cold  water  on  what  we 
may  at  a  later  date  seek  in  vain  for  in  the  rehgious  sentiment 
of  the  nation  ? 

'  This  consideration  would  be  sufficient  to  lead  me  to 
keep  neuter,  though  one  might  think  the  vox  populi  illogical. 

*  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Card.  Newman.' 

Api-U  28,  1883. 

'  Dear  jVIr.  JVL^-cColl, — Don't  think  me  inconsiderate,  if 
I  send  you  a  brief  letter.     Tliinking  and  writing  tire  me. 

'  The  logic  of  the  passage  you  have  marked  is  undeniable 
— but  a  case,  which  is  clear  in  the  abstract,  does  not  stand, 
it  may  be,  with  the  same  strength  in  the  concrete.  I  suppose 
this  is  what  is  meant  by  "  Summum  jus,  summa  injuria." 

'  The  Arians  had  an  animus,  a  directness,  and  a  purpose 
which  cannot  be  imputed  to  the  statesmen  who  in  the  course 
of  years  have  altered  the  ParUamentary  Oath. 

'  For  myself  I  have  declined  taking  part  for  or  against  the 
present  Bill.  It  never  has  been  my  hne  to  take  up  pohtical 
or  social  questions,  unless  they  came  close  to  me  as  matters 
of  personal  duty ;  and  this  Bill,  by  being  rejected,  would 
bring  so  little  gain  to  religion,  and  by  being  passed,  would 
be  so  Uttle  loss,  that  I  did  not  see  reason  for  taking  a  side. 

'  I  hope  you  got  my  second  letter  which  I  posted  at 
Rednall. 

'  Very  sincerely  yours, 

'John  H.  Card.  Newman.' 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  307 

May  3,  1883. 

'  Dear  Mr.  JMacColl, — Thank  you  for  your  kind 
interposition.  To  suppose  that  Hurrell  Froude  and  I  had 
contemplated  even  the  bare  idea  of  being  admitted  to 
communion  at  Rome  is  monstrous — too  monstrous  to  gain 
credit,  and  I  think  every  reader  of  Sir  WiUiam  Palmer  will 
think  with  you.     The  Spectator  will  insert  a  letter  of  mine. 

'  Most  truly  yours, 

'  J.  H.  Card.  Newman.' 

February  6,  1884. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  recollect  nothing  of  the 
occurrence  you  relate,  and  cannot  fancy  my  having  a  view 
of  Mr.  Gladstone  so  precise  and  confident  as  that  you  report. 
I  much  doubt  whether  I  ever  formulated  in  my  mind  a 
view  of  him,  though  I  always  should  have  spoken  of  him 
with  friendly  feehng  and  interest,  and  of  course  admiration 
of  his  gifts  moral  and  intellectual. 

'  I  am  too  near  dear  Hope-Scott  ^  to  write  of  him — also, 
I  am  not  up  to  any  serious  exercise  of  mind  now. 

'  My  brain  works  slow,  and  gets  soon  tired. 
'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  John  H.  Card.  Newman.' 

April  27,  1887. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  glad  that  the  neghgence 
of  the  London  Booksellers  allows  me  to  ask  your  acceptance 
of  the  volume  which  contains  the  "  Dream  of  Gerontius  " 
Burns  and  Gates  have  it  always  on  hand,  and  it  is  advertised 
in  every  copy  of  every  volume  of  mine,  whether  theological 
or  not. 

'  It  is  an  old  complaint  that  bookshops  save  themselves 
trouble  by  saying  that  books  are  out  of  print.  I  am  glad  of 
this  opportunity  of  hearing  from  you  and  writing  to  you, 
so  this  neglect  is  my  gain. 

*  Did  not  poor  Palmer  die  suddenly  ? 
'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  John  H.  Card.  Newman.' 

1  J.  R.  Hope-Scott  died  April  29,  1873. 

z  2 


308  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

January  16,  1890. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  have  always  felt  the 
flattering  words  you  have  used  of  me,  and  I  acknowledge 
them  still. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  J.  H.  Card.  Newman.' 


The  immense  authority  attaching  to  the  character  and 
intellect  of  Dr.  D51hnger,  and  to  his  action  at  and  after 
the  Vatican  Council,  seems  to  justify  a  copious  selection 
from  his  letters  to  MacColl. 

'It  was,'  says  MacColl,  'in  the  month  of  May  1870 
that  I  first  met  Dr.  Dollinger.  I  was  on  my  way  to  witness 
the  decennial  representation  of  the  Ober-Ammergau  Passion 
Play,  which  was  then  very  little  knowai  in  England,  and 
of  which  I  promised  Mr.  Delane  a  description  for  the 
Times.  It  was  also  the  year  of  the  Vatican  Council,  and 
Dr.  DoUinger  was  the  foremost  figure  in  the  opposition  to 
the  Dogma  of  Papal  InfaUibility,  which  was  the  great  and 
absorbing  question  of  debate.  For  this  reason,  and  also 
because  of  his  immense  learning  and  his  great  personal 
charm  (of  which  I  had  heard  from  friends  of  his),  I  was 
anxious  to  make  his  acquaintance.  I  chanced  to  mention 
my  wish  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  at  once  kindly  offered 
me  an  introduction,  and  gave  me  at  the  same  time  an 
interesting  account  of  his  first  meeting  with  Dr.  Dollinger, 
tAventy-five  years  before.  I  called  on  DoUinger  in  company 
with  a  friend  of  Welsh  origin.  On  greeting  him,  Dolfinger 
said  :  "  You  are  Welsh  "  ;  and  went  off  forthwith  into  a 
digression  on  the  unsuspected  traces  of  Celtic  origin  which 
still  survive  in  the  language  and  nomenclature  of  persons 
and  places  in  England.  His  mind  was  a  wonderful  store- 
house of  knowledge  on  a  vast  variety  of  subjects,  and  the 
knowledge  was  so  well  digested  and  assorted  that  it  was 
always  ready  to  his  hand.  He  was  a  great  linguist  and 
an  omnivorous  reader  in  the  Hteratures  of  modern  Europe 
and  America,  as  well  as  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  ;  and 


DR.  DOLLINGER  300 

his  acquaintance  with  men  was  as  various  as  his  acquaintance 
with  books.  Hardly  any  man  of  note  passed  near  Munich 
\vithout  calling,  not  always  with  an  introduction,  on  the 
great  German  theologian  and  scholar  :  and  many  made 
long  journeys  on  purpose  to  see  him.  He  was  an  excellent 
correspondent,  considering  the  vast  number  of  letters  which 
he  received  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  from  Royalties 
downwards.  But  he  never  allowed  his  correspondence  to 
interfere  with  his  hours  of  study  and  recreation.  He  pre- 
ferred to  wTite  in  German,  but  wrote  fluently  in  Enghsh, 
French,  and  Itahan.  He  read  Spanish  with  ease,  but 
I  do  not  know  whether  he  wrote  or  spoke  that  language. 
A  man  may  be  highl}^  intellectual  and  full  of  knowledge 
without  being  necessarily  a  good  talker.  It  is  impossible 
to  define  a  good  talker,  for  the  accompUshment  is  infinitely 
various.  Dr.  Dollinger  seldom  dined  out  :  but  he  once 
did  me  the  honour  of  dining  with  me  in  the  Four  Seasons 
Hotel,  Munich,  to  meet  some  friends,  including  the  then 
Bishop  of  Southwark,  and  Mr.  Talbot.  He  dehghted  the 
men  with  a  variety  of  his  knowledge  and  charmed  the 
ladies  with  the  brightness  and  hghtness  of  his  conversation, 
and  with  his  famiharity  with  topics  which  they  had  supposed 
must  have  been  beneath  his  notice.  He  w^as  full  of  humour, 
and  I  have  never  known  a  man  with  a  keener  sense  of  the 
ridiculous,  or  who  laughed  more  heartily.  But  there  was 
never  any  mahce  in  his  humour  :  like  summer  lightning 
it  irradiated  without  hurting  the  object  upon  which  it 
played.  Mr.  Gladstone  declared  in  an  obituary  notice 
of  this  great  theologian  that  he  never  heard  him  speak  an 
unkind  word  even  of  those  whom  he  might  reasonably 
regard  as  his  enemies.  .  .  .  One  subject  which  was  very 
near  the  heart  of  Dr.  DoUinger  was  the  reunion  of  Christen- 
dom. He  beheved  that  union  between  the  Christian 
bodies  outside  the  Roman  Obedience  must  precede  reunion 
with  Rome.  With  that  end  in  view  he  invited  two  Con- 
ferences at  Bonn,  in  1874  and  1875,  of  representatives  of 
the  Orthodox  Church  in  Russia,  Greece,  and  Turkey ;  of 
the  Anglican  Church  ;  the  American  Church  ;  and  leading 
Nonconformists.      He    himself    drew    up    the  programme 


310  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

of  each  Conference,  which  embraced  the  cardinal  differ- 
ences which  divided  Christendom  with  a  view  to  a 
possible  concordat.  I  attended  the  second  Conference, 
and  I  can  never  forget  that  tact,  learning,  intellectual 
grasp,  and  debating  ability  of  the  venerable  President, 
Dr.  Dollinger.  On  the  last  day  of  the  Conference  he  stood 
in  the  middle  of  the  room  where  we  were  assembled  and 
spoke  for  five  hours,  three  hours  before  luncheon,  and  two 
hours  after  luncheon.  He  had  not  a  single  note  ;  he  never 
hesitated  for  a  word  ;  his  voice  never  failed  him  for  a 
moment,  and  he  looked  as  fresh  and  vigorous  at  the  close 
of  his  address  as  if  he  had  been  a  listener  instead  of  a  speaker. 
It  was  a  marvellous  exhibition,  both  of  mind  and  body,  for 
a  man  of  sevent3^-one.  He  was  a  man  of  wiry  frame,  slim, 
agile,  and  with  a  thatch  of  hair  which  began  to  show 
streaks  of  grey  only  within  the  last  few  years  of  his  life. 
He  lived  a  regular  and  abstemious  life.  Rising  at  five  in 
the  morning,  he  said  Mass  (before  his  excommunication) 
after  dressing,  and  breakfasted  at  eight.  After  breakfast 
he  went  to  his  Library  and  worked  steadily  till  one,  when 
he  dined.  After  dinner  he  took  a  long  walk  for  about 
two  hours,  and  happy  was  any  man  who  was  privileged, 
as  I  often  was,  to  share  his  walks.  He  poured  out  a  stream 
of  information,  interspersed  with  anecdotes,  on  every  variety 
of  subjects ;  sometimes  standing  for  a  while  to  elucidate 
more  plainly  some  point  that  particularly  interested  him. 
After  his  midday  meal  he  never  tasted  anything  more  that 
day.  He  went  to  bed  between  eight  and  nine.  During 
the  latter  years  of  his  life  he  used  to  spend  a  month  or  two 
of  each  year  at  Tegernsee  with  Lord  Acton  and  family,  and 
I  was  invited,  one  year,  to  join  him  there.  He  led  a  very 
active  life  to  the  last,  and  was  accustomed  while  at  Tegernsee 
to  have  a  good  swim  in  the  lake  every  morning  before 
breakfast.  He  continued  this  habit  while  he  was  well 
over  eighty.  Indeed  his  activity  was,  humanly  speaking, 
the  cause  of  his  death.  For  before  he  had  quite  recovered 
from  a  severe  attack  of  influenza,  he  took  his  usual  cold 
bath  and  received  a  chill,  which  carried  him  off  at  the  age 
of  ninety-two.' 


DR.  DOLLINGER  nil 

Munich,  March  23,  1872. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — Pardon  my  laziness  in  answering  your 
first  letter.  I  wished  to  be  able  to  communicate  to  you 
something  not  quite  commonplace  respecting  the  Athanasian 
Creed,  and  began  to  make  researches  ;  but  now  I  must 
not  wait  longer  for  an  uncertain  result,  and  besides,  I 
believe  that  your  English  controversialists  have  pretty 
much  exhausted  the  matter.  So  I  confine  myself  to 
answering  your  questions, 

'  In  the  Roman  Cathohc  Church  the  Athanasian  Creed 
is  part  of  the  Sunday  Office  in  the  Breviary,  as  you  are 
aware  ;  consequently  it  is  read  aloud  by  all  the  Canons 
and  Vicars  in  every  Cathedral  or  Collegiate  church  ;  but 
otherwise  it  is  not  in  use.  Whenever  a  profession  of  faith 
is  to  take  place  (or  ordination,  or  academical  promotion, 
or  admission  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  from  Protes- 
tantism) it  is  always  the  creed  of  Pius  IV  which  alone  is  used. 

'  Laymen  are  generally  not  acquainted  with  the  Athan- 
asian Creed,  they  don't  find  it  in  their  prayer-books,  and 
I  believe  the  damnatory  clauses  would  sound  rather  shocking 
in  their  ear.  Of  course  the  theologians  in  their  scholastic 
treatises  on  Trinity  and  Incarnation  use  the  formulas 
contained  in  the  Creed  as  a  paramount  authority. 

'  A  layman  who  assists  in  a  Cathedral  church  (or  a 
Collegiate  one)  to  the  Sunday  service,  at  an  early  hour  (for 
instance  here  in  the  Theatine  Church  at  6)  may  hear  the 
Canons  reciting  the  Athanasian  Creed,  in  Latin,  but  gene- 
rally nobody  pays  attention  to  it,  and  so  it  comes  that  the 
laity  is  scarcely  acquainted  with  the  formulas. 

'  With  regard  to  the  question  of  the  author,  I  have 
looked  over  again  what  has  been  written  in  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  but  I  find  that  everything  is 
conjecture,  and  that  no  name,  that  has  been  proposed,  can 
claim  a  particular  probability  above  the  others. 

'  The  second  volume  of  the  "  Documenta  "  pubhshed 
by  Friedrich,  I  will  send  immediately. 

•  Believe  me,  dear  Sir, 

'  Yours  truthfully, 

'  I,    DOLLINGEE,' 


312  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

October  8,  1874. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — We  have  sadly  missed  you  in 
Bonn,  and  I  wo  aid  have  given  much  to  have  seen  you  in 
the  ranks  of  your  countrymen,  who  all,  I  must  say,  behaved 
excellently,  and  claim  the  praise  of  having  decided  the 
victory  which  the  spirit  of  peace  and  brotherly  love  gained 
over  sectarian  prejudices  in  our  conference.  When  I  left 
Munich  for  Bonn,  my  hopes  were  mixed  with  fears,  and 
I  could  not  help  feeling  rather  depressed,  but  the  event 
surpassed  my  hopes  and  gave  the  lie  to  my  apprehensions. 
What  you  propose,  a  journey  to  England  and  my  forth- 
coming at  the  Brighton  Congress,  would  be  a  burden  too 
heavy  for  my  shoulders.  I  would  perhaps  follow  your 
call,  if  my  age,  instead  of  being  75,  were  only  45.  But 
I  trust  that  others,  you  among  them,  will  plead  there  the 
noble  cause,  in  which  we  feel  interested,  with  more  eloquence 
and  better  success  than  I  could  do.  I  feel  confident  that 
those  questions,  which  we  have  not  touched  or  not  settled 
in  this  first  meeting,  may  be  brought  to  a  satisfactory 
conclusion  in  a  future  meeting.  The  more  I  study  those 
questions,  the  less  I  can  discover  insurmountable  difficulties. 
One  of  the  most  knotty  points  is  the  Eucharistic  doctrine, 
particularly  with  regard  to  the  Oriental  churches.  But 
even  there  I  don't  despair. 

'  But  now  the  most  important  concern  is,  not  to  let 
the  movement  once  auspiciously  begun  get  asleep  again. 
Gladstone,  with  whom  I  have  had  long  conversations,  is 
full  of  interest  for  it,  and,  I  trust,  will  lend  it  his  support. 
He  entertains  the  idea  of  getting  published  a  collection 
of  the  irenical  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century,  if  he 
can  find  a  fit  man  to  do  the  work.  Then  we  must  try  to 
obtain  for  our  next  meeting  at  the  end  of  August  the  parti- 
cipation of  one  or  two  delegates  of  the  Eastern  Patriarchate. 
This,  I  suppose,  will  principally  depend  on  our  finding  the 
money  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  their  journey.  And 
what  may  be  done  to  keep  alive  the  goodwdll  and  the  interest 
of  the  English  ?     Pray  let  me  hear  soon  from  you. 

'  Yours, 

'  I.  DOLLTNGEJl.' 


DR.  DOLLINGER  ni3 

July  23,  1875, 

'  My  Dear  MacColl,— I  trust  you  will  not  sit  in  judg- 
ment upon  the  sins  of  omission  which  as  a  correspondent 
I  am  guilty  of  too  often— 7ia6e5  confitentem  reum,  but 
let  me  tell  you,  in  a  few  words,  first,  that  I  thank  you 
heartily  for  the  kind  gift  of  your  last  work  ;  ^  (2)  that  I 
congratulate  you  upon  the  highly  favourable  reception  it 
has  met  with  in  England  ;  (3)  that  I  expect  to  meet  you 
on  the  twelfth  of  August  in  Bonn,  where  a  good  work  is 
to  be  done  by  us  in  common.  The  Orientals  will  be  there 
in  good  representation  by  competent  men,  and  with  peace- 
ful intentions.  Two  Archimandrites  from  Constantinople 
have  just  arrived. 

'  Try  to  persuade  Gladstone  to  come  with  you.   .   .   . 
'  Ever  yours,  with  true  friendship, 

'  I.  DOLLINGER.' 

'I  am  told  that  the  Bishop  of  Winchester 3  finds 
himself  unable  to  go  to  Bonn  this  year — is  there  no 
other  Bishop  or  Dignitary  who  might  be  persuaded  to 
come  ? 

'  I  had  almost  forgotten  to  thank  you  for  the  copy  of 
the  translation  of  the  "  Bericht,"  as  well  as  for  the  trouble 
you  took  in  it.  I  could  scarcely  hope  that  in  such  a  short 
time  you  would  become  such  a  good  German  scholar.  The 
meeting  at  Bonn  will  make  you  even  more  perfect  in  that 
respect.' 

December  8,  1882. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — Since  I  expressed  my  readiness 
of  assisting  the  editors  of  Palmer's  work  with  my  advice 
and  help,  circumstances  have  come  to  my  knowledge  Avhich 
are  changing  the  whole  aspect  of  the  enterprise.  A  fact, 
which  I  was  not  aware  of,  is  that  the  author  himself  is 
to  concur  in  the  revision  of  his  work,  a  concurrence  which 
will  make  your  task  much  more  easy  ;  but  then  also  it 
would  be  quite  inconvenient  to  take  liberty  with  the  text, 

1  Lawlessness,  Sacerdotalism,  and  Ritualism. 
'  E.  Harold  Browne. 


314  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  change  or  modify  passages,  etc.,  for  in  many  cases  such 
attempts  could  not  have  the  author's  approbation ;  an 
exchange  of  letters  with  proposals,  objections,  questions, 
would  become  unavoidable,  and  as  Mr.  Palmer  and  myself 
are  both  aged  men,  such  an  expense  of  time  would  become 
burdensome  to  him  as  well  as  to  me,  for  you  must  not  forget 
that  I  am  near  my  84th  year,  and  have  plenty  of  Hterary 
and  academical  business  on  my  hands. 

'  Then  there  is  another  fact  which  changes  the  position. 
Until  lately  I  beheved  that  our  friend  Dr.  Liddon  would 
throw  his  great  energy  and  knowledge  into  this  work,  and, 
as  he  is  already  acquainted  with  German  language  and 
theological  literature,  I  thought  I  might  assist  him  by 
pointing  out  to  him  the  best  books  or  articles  in  Reviews, 
etc.,  to  be  consulted,  as  well  as  by  conversation  and  personal 
debate  in  case  he  should  come  to  Munich  and  stay  here  some 
time.  But  now  Dr.  Liddon  is,  I  suppose,  entirely  taken  up 
by  writing  the  Life  of  Pusey,^  and  I  don't  know  how  far 
your  acquaintance  with  German  language  and  theology  can 
be  reckoned  upon.  And  here  allow  me  to  observe,  that 
the  statement  in  your  announcement  of  my  ecclesiastical 
position  is  not  a  correct  one.  The  fact  is,  I  have  not  ceased 
to  be  a  member  of  the  Roman  CathoHc  Church,  but  I  am 
under  excommunication,  simply  because  I  refuse  to  change 
the  faith  which  I  have  been  taught  and  have  been  teaching 
myself  for  50  years.  I  refused  to  swear  that  I  believed 
the  truth  of  a  newly  made  dogma,  which  ruins  the  whole 
economy  of  rehgion  and  church ;  and  you  know  that, 
according  to  the  general  doctrine  of  divines  and  canonists, 
an  unjust  excommunication  is  in  itself  void  and  null. 
Consequently  I  consider  myself  as  being  still  a  member  of 
the  Church  in  which  I  was  born  and  educated.  I  am  still 
in  undisputed  possession  of  the  ecclesiastical  dignity  which 
was  conferred  upon  me  some  30  years  ago. 

'  I  think  I  need  not  point  out  to  you,  that  under  these 
circumstances  a  connexion  of  my  name  with  the  forth- 
coming work  would  be  utterly  preposterous. 

'  Pray   observe  that  I    don't    wish    to    be    made    the 

1  E,  B.  Pusey  died  September  16,  1882, 


DR.   DOLLINGER  315 

object  of  a  public  rectification  ;    it  is  only  for  your  own 
information  I  have  mentioned  the  matter. 

'  BeUeve  me,   dear  Sir,  with  the  greatest  regard  and 
friendship  to  be 

'  Truly  yours, 

'I,  DOLLINGER.' 


December  14,  1882. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — Mr.  Greig  ^  shall  be  welcome  in 
Munich.  I  think  this  plan  a  very  good  one,  and  I  will  do 
my  best  to  make  it  succeed.  Munich,  with  its  excellent 
library  and  the  facilities  of  use  they  offer,  is  perhaps  a  more 
fit  place  for  such  a  literary  task  than  even  Oxford  or 
Cambridge.  Mr.  Greig  may  choose  his  time,  I  shall  be  in 
Munich  till  the  beginning  of  August  without  interruption. 
I  congratulate  you  on  the  acquisition  of  a  previous 
collaborator  in  the  person  of  Dr.  Littledale  ;  pray  tell  him 
that  I  think  his  "  Plain  Reasons  "  as  excellent  in  its  kind, 
and  a  model  of  fair  discussion." 

'  Believe,  with  true  friendship  and  kindest  regard, 

'  Yours, 

'  I.   DOLLINGER.' 


March  17,  1883. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — I  have  to  thank  you  for  the  books 
which  you  were  so  kind  to  send  me.  Being  all  of  them  the 
offsprings  of  your  elastic,  fruit-bearing  brains,  these  children 
certainly  do  credit  to  the  parent.  Up  to  this  day  I  have 
only  found  time  for  a  superficial  glance,  but  I  propose  to 
read  them  attentively. 

'  Meanwhile  I  beg  to  be  allowed  to  differ  from  your 
tenderness  for  the  damnatory  clauses  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed,  which  I  could  never  digest. 

'  You  will  soon  see  Mr.  Greig ;  he  will  tell  you  more  about 
the  book  in  hand  than  I  have  time  to  write.     The  great 

1  A  clergyman  who  was  to  collaborate  in  the  revision  of  Palmer's  book  on 
the  Church. 

•  Plain  Reasons  against  joining  the  Church  of  Borne,  by  R.  F.  Littledale,  LL.D, 


316  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

difficulty — and  to  a  certain  extent  it  is  unconquerable — 
consists  in  the  difference  of  views. 

'  A  work  like  the  "  Treatise  of  the  Church  "  must  be 
and  remain  the  creation  of  one  mind,  and  here  we  are 
three,  each  of  whom  has  his  own  darling  ideas.  If  there 
are  to  be  four,  I  fear  the  book  would  only  fare  worse.  I 
have  tried  to  convince  Mr.  Greig,  that  what  Sir  Wilham 
Pahner  has  written,  must  in  the  main  and  essentially  remain 
unchanged.  But  for  the  details  I  refer  to  Mr.  Greig's  oral 
communications  with  you. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  I.  DOLLINGER.' 

[June  8,  1885. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — I  am  obliged  to  stay  in  Munich 
till  the  beginning  of  August.  I  am  kept  in  town  by  a  mass 
of  occupations  resulting  principally  from  my  position  as 
President  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences — but  we  shall  find 
time  sufficient  for  conversations,  and,  if  I  can  be  of  use  to 
you,  I  hope  also  to  get  information  from  you  respecting 
the  state  of  English  affairs,  etc. 

'  Meanwhile, 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  I.    DOLLINGER.' 

[Tegemaee],  August  26,  1887. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — I  hasten  to  answer  your  letter 
and  begin  by  correcting  a  mistake  which  seems  to  have 
been  produced  by  a  loose  or  inexact  expression  in  my  last 
letter.  Lord  Acton  could  not  invite  you  to  occupy  a  room 
in  the  villa  we  hve  in  (1)  because  the  house  does  not  belong 
to  him  but  to  his  mother-in-law  Countess  Arco ;  (2)  because 
every  nook  and  corner  in  the  villa  is  filled  up  by  the 
two  famihes — the  Arcos  and  the  Actons,  their  children, 
governesses,  etc.  But  there  are  here  three  or  four  good 
hotels,  at  a  distance  of  eight  or  ten  minutes  walk  from  the 
villa. 

'  In  my  opinion  it  would  be  more  convenient  not  to  wait 
till  the  whole  work  is  finished  ;    because  the  adoption  or 


CHARLES  KINGSLEY  317 

introduction  of  a  view  or  principle  or  even  the  change 
of  a  passage  in  the  former  part  of  the  work  will  pro- 
bably with  necessity  lead  to  changes  or  additions  in  the 
latter  part. 

'  I  think  it  most  desirable  that  Dr.  Liddon  should  come 
along  with  you,  his  presence  at  our  consultations  could  not 
but  be  most  welcome  and  useful.  Pray  tell  him,  that  it 
would  give  the  greatest  pleasure  to  myself  as  to  Lord  Acton 
to  see  him  here. 

'  Many  thanks  for  your  notice  respecting  Mr.  Gladstone's 
good  health  ;  of  course  he  is  the  theme  of  daily  conversation 
between  Lord  A.  and  me. 

'  Always  yours 
*  with  the  kindest  feelings  of  friendship, 

'  I.    DOLLINGER.' 

November  8,  1888. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — As  far  as  I  can  now  recollect, 
the  fact  which  you  mention  is  stated  and  discussed  in  the 
Analecta  Juris  Pontificii}  a  French  periodical,  pubhshed 
in  foUo  in  Paris  and  Rome.  But  I  cannot  quote  the  volume 
and  the  page,  I  have  it  not  at  hand,  and  I  cannot  spare  the 
time  which  a  search  would  require. 

'  Yours  faithfully, 

'I.    DOLLINGER.' 


The  attack  on  the  Athanasian  Creed,  which  was  pro- 
moted by  Archbishop  Tait  in  1871-3,  had  the  unexpected 
result  of  rallying  Charles  Kingsley  to  the  defence  of  the 
imperilled  symbol.  There  can  be  no  need  to  describe  that 
remarkable    man,    so   we    may   go    direct    to    his    letters 

^  [The  reference  is  Analecta  Juris  Pontificii,  huitieme  serie,  pp.  1670-1685 
— '  Is  the  Cephas  reproved  by  St.  Paul  the  same  as  the  Apostle  Peter  ? ' 
Analecta  Juris  Pontificii,  vii.  897. 

For  American  ordination  seo  Analecta  xxiv.  1119,  under  the  heading  of 
'  Ignorance.' 

The  reference  to  the  South  American  ordination  of  descendants  of  native 
Indians  to  the  fourth  generation  is  in  Analecta  Juris  Pontificii,  vol.  4, 
pp.  1681-3  (huitieme  aerie).— M.  M.] 


318  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

addressed  to  Malcolm  MacColl  as  Organizing  Secretary  of 
the  meeting  to  which  reference  has  been  made  on  p.  273. 

October  30,  1872. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — Engagements  will  render  it  quite 
impossible  for  me  to  attend  your  Committee,  and  absence 
from  home  yesterday  prevented  my  receiving  your  letter 
in  time  to  answer  by  yesterday's  post. 

'  You  may  be  aware  that  I  have  signed  the  addresses 
from  both  Archbishoprics,  recommending  some  change  : 
but,  in  my  case,  only  in  the  sense  of  an  alteration  in  the 
Damnatory  Clauses.  I  should  allow  even  that  with  very 
great  reluctance,  as  a  concession  to  the  invincible  ignorance 
of  eschatology  which  fills  the  modern  Puritanic  and  Lockite 
mind. 

'  But  I  would  rather  have  no  alteration  at  all,  than  lose 
the  Creed  as  an  element  of  public  worship. 

'  But — and  this  is  most  important  to  me — may  I  ask  if 
it  is  altogether  the  best  way  of  doing  our  work,  to  organize 
public  meetings  about  England — or  even  to  have  a  central 
meeting  in  London  ?     I  dread,  from  experience,  all  pubUc 
meetings    when    discussion    of    high  and   holy    things    is 
likely   to  be   mixed — as  it   must   be — with  somewhat   of 
controversial  temper.  .   .   .  My  dread  is  lest  we  should  cast 
that  which  is  holy  to  the  dogs  of  criticism,  and  our  pearls 
before  the  swine  of  frivolity  and  ribaldry.     Surely  this  is 
a  matter  rather  for  prelates,  divines,  and  scholars,  than  for 
public  meetings,  which  are  always  of  the  world,  worldly, 
and  of  the  flesh,  fleshly  ;  let  us  try  as  we  may  to  keep  them 
spiritual.     I  could  not  attend  such  a  meeting  :    because  I 
could  not  speak  my  heart  about  that  precious  and  noble 
Creed,  as  I  could  in  the  pulpit.     My  rule  has  been,  to  preach 
the  Athanasian  Creed  from  the  pulpit,  in  season  and  out  of 
season  ;    to  ground  not  merely  my  whole  theological,  but 
my  whole  ethical,  teaching,  formally  and  openly  on  it ; 
to  prevent  as   far  as  I   could  people  from  thinking  it  a 
dead  formula,  or  even  a  mere  string  of  intellectual  dogmas. 
And  if    I  seem  (from  my  experience)  to  dare  to  offer  a 
suggestion  to  your  Committee,  it  would  be — to  call  on  all 


II 


CHARLES  KINGSLEY  319 

clergy  who  value  the  Creed  to  preach  on  it  continually  and 
make  the  congregations  feel  something  at  least  of  its  value. 
'  But  I  only  speak  with  hesitation,  and  am  ready  to  be 
convinced  if  I  am  wrong. 

'  In  any  case,  let  me  say  that  any  matter  which  puts 
me  into  communication  with  you,  gives  me  pleasure. 
'  Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

'  Yours  very  faithfully, 

'  C.   KiNGSLEY.' 
December  24,  1872. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — Of  course,  after  the  kind  words 
from  you  and  others  which  your  letter  contained,  I  must, 
if  possible,  be  present  at  the  meeting.  But  my  plans  (I  am 
about  to  leave  home  for  some  time)  are  so  unsettled  that 
I  cannot  promise  unreservedly.  I  shall  have  little  more 
to  say  than  what  I  said  in  the  paper  which  I  sent  you. 

'  I  wish  I  had  seen  the  latter  half  of  Liddon's  letter. 
What  you  sent  me  ended  with  a  But — and  I  am  naturally 
anxious  to  know  if  he  had  an  objection  to  my  opinion,  as 
any  objection  of  his  would  carry  great  weight  with  me. 
Can  you  let  me  know  more  of  what  he  thinks  on  it  all  ? 
I  don't  know  him,  or  would  write  to  him. 

'  I  have  meant  often  to  write  to  you  :  but  I  have  had 
most  painful  parish  business,  and  also  a  dying  Mother, 
now,  thank  God,  recovering  ;  so  you  must  not  misinterpret 
my  silence, 

'  But  believe  me, 

'  Faithfully  yours, 

'C.  KiNGSLEY.' 

January  9,  1873. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — Will  you  kindly  thank  Canon 
Liddon  from  me  for  his  courteous  and  able  letter,  and  tell 
him  that  I  am  sorry  any  vagueness  of  words  of  mine  should 
have  caused  him  the  trouble  of  writing  it  ?  I  fully  accept 
his  statement  as  the  "  safe,  probable,  and  orthodox  "  view 
of  a  difficult  question,  and  I  am  sincerelj^  pleased  to  find  that 
he  and  I  are  of  the  same  mind  on  it.     I  quite  see  the  force 


320  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

of  your  argument,  that  the  Committee  could  not  put  this 
view  forward  prominently,  considering  that  it  has  to  con- 
ciliate men  of  different  opinions.  Still,  I  hold  to  my 
belief  that  only  by  putting  it  forward  (at  least  in  the 
Explanatory  Note)  can  we  finally  save  the  Creed.-' 

'  If  I  can  come  to  the  meeting  I  will.  But  my  plans  are 
most  unsettled,  owing  to  illness  in  my  household. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  C.  KiNGSLEY.* 
January  31,  1873. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am,  to  my  regret,  unable  to 
be  present  at  the  meeting  to-night.  But  I  cannot  let  it 
pass  without  asking  leave  to  express  my  strong  sympathy 
Avith  its  object. 

'  I  have  long  held  that  the  general  use  and  understanding 
of  the  Athanasian  Creed  by  the  Church  of  England  would 
exercise  hereafter  (as  it  has  exercised  already)  a  most 
potent  and  salutary  influence,  not  only  on  the  theology, 
but  on  the  ethics,  and  on  the  science,  physical  and  meta- 
physical, of  all  Enghsh-speaking  nations. 

'  I  beheve  that  that  influence  was  never  more  needed 
than  now  since  the  great  French  Revolution  of  the  last 
century ;  and  I  am  therefore  the  more  jealous  at  this 
moment  of  the  safety  of  the  Athanasian  Creed. 

'  I  feel  for,  though  I  cannot  feel  with,  the  objections  of 
many  excellent  persons  to  the  so-called  Damnatory  Clauses. 
But  I  beheve  that  those  objections  would  die  out  were  the  true 
and  ancient  Cathohc  doctrine  concerning  the  future  state 
better  known  among  us  ;  and  therefore,  in  the  event  of  an 
explanatory  rubric  being  appended  to  the  Creed  in  our 
Prayer  Book,  I  should  humbly  pray  that  it  may  express,  or  at 
least  include  and  allow,  that  orthodox  and  salutary  doctrine. 

'  Believe  me, 
*  Yours  with  sincere  good  wishes, 

'  Charles  Kingsley.' 


1  Kjngsley's  view  was  that  the  '  Warning  Clauses  '  of  the  Athanasian  Creed 
refer  to  an  intermediate  discipline,  not  to  final  reprobation. 


J.  A.  FROUDE  321 

If  there  was  no  need  to  describe  Charles  Kingsley,  there 
can  be  still  less  to  describe  James  Anthony  Froude. 

MacCoU  and  Froude  had  little  in  common,  either  in  the 
sphere  of  religion  or  in  that  of  domestic  politics,  but  they 
were  drawn  together,  by  their  hostility  to  Turkey,  in  the 
Eastern  Question  of  1876-8. 

October  14,  1877. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  will  attend  to-morrow  if  I 
can,  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  I  shall  be  able,  and  you  will 
not  expect  me.  Meanwhile,  good  service  might  be  done  in 
the  direction  which  you  indicate,  by  collecting  the  speeches 
of  D 'Israeli  and  other  Conservatives  during  the  Crimean 
War  when  they  were  in  opposition.  Our  delightful  Premier 
has  seen  an  opportunity  of  setting  Europe  on  fire,  and  ter- 
minating his  own  political  career  with  an  illumination  like 
the  last  scene  of  a  pantomime  with  himself  to  grimace  and 
bow  like  Harlequin  on  the  front  of  the  stage. 

'  The  editors  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  Telegraph,  and 
Standard  must,  I  conceive,  hold  Turkish  securities. 

'  Yours  faithfully, 

'  J.  A.  Froude.' 

December  18,  1877. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  fully  meant  to  attend  the 
meeting  of  which  you  sent  me  a  card,  but  I  mistook  the 
day  and  went  yesterday  afternoon.     I  am  very  sorry. 

'  I  suppose  you  know  that  there  is  fresh  danger  in  the 
wind,  and  that  watchfulness  is  more  necessary  than  ever. 
Lord  B.  will  again  try  to  commit  the  country  to  a  position 
from  which  there  will  be  no  retreat,  under  this  appeal  for 
mediation.  If  he  can  be  baffled  this  once,  I  think  the  Turks 
will  give  in.  I  believe  we  are  safe  while  Lord  Salisbury 
and  Lord  Carnarvon  are  in  the  Cabinet.  But  Lord  B.  is 
as  subtle  as  Satan  and  as  determined.  He  knows  as  well 
as  we  do  that  his  own  reputation  is  at  stake,  and  that, 
if  Turkey  has  to  submit  to  terms  imposed  upon  her  by 
Russia  and  Germany,  he  will  be  held  responsible  even  by 


322  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

the  Turks  themselves  for  all  that  they  have  suffered  and 
will  suffer. 

'  Watch,  therefore,  you  know  not  the  hour,  etc. 

'  Yours  faithfully, 

'  J.  A.  Froude.' 

'  Madame  Novikoff's  letters  are  being  reprinted.  I  have 
written  a  few  words  of  Preface  to  them.' 

December  31,  1877. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  return  Gladstone's  letter 
with  my  best  thanks — the  crisis  is  now  very  near.  May  the 
country  be  as  wise  and  staunch  as  I  believe  it  to  be  ;  but 
I  cannot  conceal  from  you  that  among  the  best  affected 
there  is  a  real  fear  that  the  War  Party  will  soon  be  in  a 
majority  if  they  are  not  so  already.  Lord  B.'s  hope  is  that 
Russia  will  return  an  answer  to  the  communication  which 
he  has  made  that  will  irritate  the  national  vanity,  and 
that  he  will  have  the  game  in  his  hands  at  the  moment 
when  Parliament  meets.  Those  who  retain  their  senses 
are  afraid  that  we  are  too  weak  to  make  an  effective 
demonstration  before  the  opening — that  if  we  try  and  fail, 
we  shall  strengthen  Lord  B.'s  hands  ;  and  they  think  that 
we  ought  to  reserve  our  strength,  whatever  it  be,  till  he  has 
betrayed  his  real  intentions.  No  harm  can  be  done  by 
spontaneous  Neutrality  meetings,  but  an  organized  agita- 
tion is  held  to  be  premature. 

'  I  heard  it  said  to-day  confidently  that,  if  Russia 
refuses  to  allow  our  mediation,  or  to  state  her  demands  in 
so  moderate  a  form  that  for  shame's  sake  we  must  admit 
them  to  be  just,  even  Gladstone  himself  will  then  withdraw 
his  opposition  to  war.  I  cannot  believe  this — but  such  an 
opinion  is  in  the  air. 

'  Pray  let  me  know  what  you  hear  from  him. 

'  Faithfully  yours, 
'  J.  A.  Froude.' 

December  19,  1878. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  read  the  pamphlet  last 
night  without  guessing  it  to  be  yours .    The  publication  of  the 


J.  A.  FROUDE  323 

Report  (1)  of  the  Rhodope  Commission,  i.e.  of  the  pretended 
opinions  of  Fawcett  and  Layard,  is  unfortunately  only  one 
of  the  many  disgraceful  things  which  the  present  Govern- 
ment has  done.  Retribution  is  slow  in  this  world,  but  it 
is  sure.  One  of  my  greatest  regrets  in  the  whole  matter  is 
that  the  old  Tory  party  in  England  has  committed  suicide, 
and  that  the  wreck  of  it  can  exist  henceforth  only  as  a 
faction. 

'  I  have  not  seen  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester's  letter,  nor 
shall  I  look  for  it.^  I  have  but  a  very  slight  acquaint- 
ance with  Ellicott — my  chief  remembrance  of  him  is  at 
a  dinner  many  years  ago  when  I  made  a  fourth  with  him, 
John  Parker,  and  Buckle.  Buckle  talked,  as  he  generally 
did,  the  eloquent  commonplaces  of  Atheism.  Ellicott  and 
I  sat  afterwards  for  some  hours  talking  him  over  by  John 
Parker's  fire,  and  while  Ellicott  was  giving  me  his  opinion 
of  Buckle,  he  was  enabling  me  to  form  mine  of  him. 

'  I  suppose  he  is  bidding  to  succeed  Tait  at  Canterbur3^ 

'  Faithfully  yours, 

'  J.  A.  Froude.' 

'  I  have  many  strange  correspondents.  You  will  be 
interested  in  reading  the  accompanying  letter  from  General 
Cluseret  (who  commanded  the  Communist  army  in  Paris 
in  1870).  He  is  now  at  Constantinople — you  will  see  he 
evidently  looks  to  a  war  between  England  and  Russia  as  a 
signal  for  a  fresh  effort  of  the  Internationalists  in  Europe. 
Russia  is  their  more  formidable  enemy,  from  whom  the 
English  aristocracy  are  to  deliver  them  !  !  You  will  send 
me  back  the  letter  when  you  have  read  it.' 

May  21,  1880. 

'My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  should  have  liked 
extremely  to  have  joined  your  agreeable  little  party  on 
the  26th.  Unluckily  I  am  engaged  and  cannot  extricate 
myself. 

'  I  fear  it  is  for  the  present  true  that  the  Government  have 
decided  against  Sir  B.  Frere's  recall.     The  Liberal  party, 

^  C.  J.  Ellicott,  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol, 

Y  2 


324  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

however  (or  a  large  part  of  them),  are  not  satisfied  with  this 
resolution.  A  deputation  goes  to  the  Colonial  Office  on 
the  27th  to  press  the  appointment  of  a  Commission — and 
perhaps  Lord  Kimberley  may  find  it  prudent  to  consent. 
Chesson  tells  us  that  he  expects  you  to  be  present.  I  hope 
it  is  so  to  be. 

*  Faithfully  yours, 

'  J.  A.  Froude.' 


Mr.  Richard  Holt  Hutton,  one  of  the  most  original 
characters,  and  one  of  the  most  influential  writers,  of 
his  time,  was  editor  of  the  Spectator  from  1861  to  1897. 
Between  him  and  MacCoU  there  existed  a  very  close  sym- 
pathy, founded  in  great  part  on  their  common  devotion  to 
Gladstone  ;  and,  though  Hutton  renounced  Gladstone's 
leadership  when  Home  Rule  was  propounded,  and  became 
a  melancholy  critic  of  his  former  idol,  his  friendship  with 
MacCoU  remained  unabated. 

'  My  connexion,'  said  MacColl,  '  with  the  Spectator 
extended  over  twenty  years,  and  I  look  back  upon  it  mth 
unalloyed  satisfaction.  My  close  contact  with  two  such  minds 
as  Mr.  Meredith  Townsend  and  Mr.  R.  H.  Hutton  was  in 
itseK  a  hberal  education.  .  .  .  Hutton  was,  perforce,  erudite 
in  general  hterature,  especially  the  hterature  of  England, 
Germany,  and  France,  wdth  a  strong  bias  towards  philo- 
sophical and  theological  studies,  as  anyone  who  has  read 
his  two  volumes  of  Essays,  Literary  and  Theological,  will 
admit.  I  remember  Mr.  Gladstone  saying  to  me  once  that 
he  regarded  Hutton  as  the  "  finest  critic  of  the  nineteenth 
century."  And  \vith  it  all  Hutton  was  one  of  the  most 
genial,  affectionate,  and  lovable  of  men.  If  ever  a  man  was 
doing  good  in  his  generation  and  deserved  to  be  happy 
in  this  Hfe,  this  is  certainly  true  of  Hutton.  Yet  his  life 
was  in  his  later  years  overshadowed  mth  sorrow  and  ended 
prematurely  in  pain.  His  death  made  a  great  blank  in 
my  hfe,  as  I  am  sure  it  did  in  the  lives  of  not  a  few  who 
never  knew  him  personally.  His  middle  articles  in  the 
Spectator  week  by  week,  so  full  of  thought  and  insight  and 


R.  H.   HUTTON  325 

originality,  were  a  joy  to  many  who  never  saw  the  author. 
He  left  instructions  that  no  Life  or  Memoir  of  him  should 
be  written.  It  was  like  his  modesty,  his  humihty,  and 
reserve  in  all  that  concerned  his  inner  life.  Brought  up  a 
Unitarian,  the  theology  of  that  religious  community  failed 
to  satisfy  his  religious  needs  and  cravings,  for  reasons  which 
he  has  fully  explained  in  his  Essay  on  "  The  Incarnation 
and  the  Principles  of  Evidence." 

'  I  made  his  acquaintance  through  my  Uttle  book  on  the 
Ober-Ammergau  Passion  Play,  which  interested  him  and 
induced  him  to  see  the  play  with  his  own  eyes.  On  his 
return  he  asked  me  to  become  a  regular  contributor  to  the 
Spectator,  which  I  did.  He  was  a  man  of  profoundly 
religious  mind.' 


Button  to  MacColl 

'April  22,  1880. — I  have  been  thinking  of  the  great 
desirability  of  the  extraordinary  fidelity  of  the  Welsh 
getting  itself  acknowledged  in  the  new  Government. 
Would  it  be  possible  to  acknowledge  it  better  or  more 
gracefully  than  by  making  Mr.  DillwjTi,  the  Member  for 
Swansea,  the  new  Chairman  of  Committees  in  Mr.  Raikes's 
place  ?  There  is  no  fairer-minded  man  in  the  House  and 
none  more  sensible,  and  hardly  one  who  has  studied  the 
forms  of  the  House  so  carefully  and  given  so  much  time  to 
matters  of  that  description.  There  has  been  no  follower 
of  Mr.  Gladstone  more  personally  loyal,  and  there  is  no 
man  below  the  gangway,  except  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  whose 
appointment  to  any  office  of  trust  would  do  more  to 
strengthen  the  Government  with  the  Radicals. 

'  Mr.  Dillwyn  is  very  popular,  too,  personally,  with  the 
Tories  ;  he  is  a  good  shot  and  a  good  angler,  and  in  that 
way  knows  almost  all  the  country  gentlemen  who  were 
Members  of  the  last  House.  Of  course,  like  all  the  Welsh 
Members,  he  is  for  Disestablishment,  but  that  will  hardly 
come  up  at  present,  and  certainly  his  appointment  to 
that  kind  of  position  will  not  give  any  support  to  the  idea 


326  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

that  the  Government  favoured  DisestabHshment.  Indeed 
it  might  do  something  to  make  that  party  reasonable  and 
moderate.' 

'  April   5,    1885. — I   am    staying    away    from    Church 
though   it   is   Easter   Sunday   and   though   it   is   a   great 
sacrifice   to    me    to    lose    the    Communion    on    that    day 
(there  was  no  early  service  in  these  parts)  because  the 
Athanasian  Creed  so  jars  me  ;  so  I  may  as  well  put  in 
writing  what  I  want  you  to  consider  as  the  subject.     My 
view  is  that  when  a  Church  says  solemnly  to  its  people, 
"  Whoever  wishes  to  be  safe,  he  must  before  all  things  " 
either  be  or  do  anything,  it  should  really  specify  some- 
thing that  ninety-nine  men  out  of  a  hundred  can  be  and 
do,   and  will   find   it   to  be  to  their  moral  and  spiritual 
benefit  to  be  or  to  do.     Now,  undoubtedly,  if  the  Creed  had 
gone  on  to  say  that  to  believe  in  a  God  of  perfect  righteous- 
ness is  "  before  all  things  "  necessary  for  the  formation  of 
the  character  by  which  alone  w^e  can  enter  the  state  of  the 
blessed,  I  should  have  accepted  it  with  all  my  heart.     But 
what  does  it  go  on  to  say  ?     It  says  he  must  "  before  all 
things  "  accept  the  Catholic  faith  as  it  goes  on  to  define 
that  faith.     Now  I  reply  that  of  all  good  men  and  women 
living,  of  all  who  are,  so  far  as  we  can  say,  likely  to  enjoy 
the  blessed  Vision  of  God  for  ever  and  ever,  not  perhaps 
one  or  two  in  a  hundred,  at  least  in  England,  do  or  can  hold 
the  Cathohc  faith  as  so  defined  ;   because  they  cannot  even 
appreciate  the  difficulties  which  lead  to  their  definitions  or 
understand  at  what  the  definitions  are  aimed.     Well,  then, 
I  say  that  the  Creed  is  not  for  such  people  a  practical  one, 
and  that  the  solemn  words  with  which  it  opens,  and  the 
more  solemn  words  with  which  it  concludes,  fail  of  their 
effect  because  all  the  exposition,  which  makes  the  drift  of 
the  Creed,  is  not  adapted  for  the  state  of  mind  in  which 
ordinary  English  men  and  women  go  to  have  the  conditions 
of  salvation  announced  to  them.     What  they  do  want  is 
a  clear  announcement  of  the  law  of  righteousness,  and  of 
the  law  of   belief  so  far  as  it  is  essential  to  righteousness. 
The  Apostles'  Creed  answers  the  last  demand  admirably. 


R.  H.  HUTTON  327 

The  Nicene  Creed,  which  is  accompanied,  by  no  solemn 
warning  of  eternal  punishment,  yet  announces  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnation  in  words  which  make  everyone  sensible 
of  the  supernatural  character  of  the  redeeming  love.  But 
the  Athanasian  Creed,  which  is  implicitly  preceded  and 
explicitly  followed  by  much  more  solemn  denunciations  of 
wrath  against  those  who  fail  of  justifying  belief  than  either 
of  the  others,  goes  into  minute  subtleties  of  belief  quite 
unfitted  for  the  popular  mind,  and  wholly  unfitted  to  the 
character  of  the  warnings  by  which  these  definitions  are 
accompanied.  If  such  warnings  had  been  annexed  to  any 
Creed,  it  should  clearly  have  been  to  the  Apostles'.  Any 
man  can  follow  that,  and  it  may  be  said  that  very  few  who 
cannot  accept  such  a  Creed  will  have  faith  enough  in  God 
to  make  his  life  what  it  ought  to  be.  But  I  do  hold  that 
to  select  the  one  Creed  which  goes  into  distinctions  of  the 
utmost  complexity  and  difficulty  as  the  Creed  to  which 
awful  warnings  of  this  kind  should  be  attached,  is  one  of 
the  greatest  blunders  ever  made  by  the  Church.' 

'  January  24,  1886. — Your  pamphlet  arrived  (unsewn) 
only  on  Friday  afternoon,  quite  too  late  for  notice,  and 
I  can  only  just  now  read  it. 

'  It  is  a  very  good  ex  parte  statement,  but  how  you  can 
regard  it  as  impartial,  or  venture  to  call  it  "  Arguments  for 
and  against  Home  Rule  "  I  cannot  imagine.  If  you  had 
called  it  "  Arguments  for  Home  Rule  and  vague,  loosely 
conceived  pleas  against  it,"  it  would  have  been  nearer  the 
mark. 

'  Of  course  there  is  much  of  your  pamphlet  with  which 
everyone  will  agree,  but  I  venture  to  think  that  it  will  not 
be  the  critical  portions  of  it.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  whole 
pamphlet  is  penetrated  by  one  or  two  most  important  and 
most  serious  suppressions  of  evidence, — of  course  I  do  not 
mean  intentional  on  your  part,  but  quite  unconscious. 

'  You  throughout  argue  for  Home  Rule  in  the  assump- 
tion that  Ireland  has  been  in  the  same  wholly  oppressed 
and  wholly  unrepresented  condition  that  Bulgaria  was  in 
before  the  Congress  of  Berhn.     What  can  be  more  utterly 


328  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

inconsistent  with  the  facts  ?  And  the  importance  of  it  is 
this.  You  assume  that  we  have  no  means  of  judging  how 
freedom  can  act  on  Ireland.  To  a  very  great  extent  Ireland 
has  had  freedom  ;  at  all  events  a  freedom  of  which  Bulgaria 
never  dreamed.  We  have  seen  how  she  has  used  it — to 
complain  of  anything  like  justice  enforced  against  grave 
crime  ;  to  obstruct  the  government  of  the  one  man  who  had 
given  her  the  Land  Act  in  every  way  in  her  power  ;  to  en- 
courage the  refusal  to  pay  any  but  a  rent  at  "  prairie  value  "  ; 
to  turn  out  a  Government  for  inflicting  righteous  punishment 
on  a  gang  of  murderers.  How  is  it  possible  to  speak,  as  you 
do,  as  if  Home  Rule  were  a  terra  incognita  that  could  bring 
out  all  the  best  side  of  the  Irish  people  ?  The  Irish  party 
of  Mr.  ParneU  are  the  party  Ireland  approves  :  their  tactics 
are  what  she  approves  ;  their  crimes  are  what  she  regards 
as  virtues  ;  their  ingratitude  and  hatred  of  the  Liberals 
are  what  she  glories  in.  We  are  hound  to  argue  from  what 
the  Parnelhtes  recommend  and  do  now,  to  what  they  would 
recommend  and  do  if  they  were  in  complete  command  of 
Ireland.  It  is  perhaps  not  absolutely  certain  that  it  would 
be  just  the  same  ;  but  it  is  by  far  the  most  reasonable  and 
wise  basis  of  an  argument  which  we  can  assume.  Bulgaria, 
with  all  the  influence  Ireland  has  wielded  for  20  years  back 
in  such  a  Parhament  as  the  Enghsh,  would  have  got  all 
she  wanted  long  ago. 

'Your  argument  appears  to  assume  throughout  that 
Home  Rule  is  always  good.  You  say  America  and 
Austria  are  strengthened  by  it.  Austria  was  strengthened 
by  it  only  because  she  was  so  composite  and  heterogeneous 
before,  that  she  must  have  gone  to  pieces  without  it. 
America  was  not  strengthened  by  it,  for  she  never  had 
anything  else.  But  your  argument,  as  apphed  to  England, 
is  hke  saying  that  France  or  Italy  would  be  strengthened 
by  it.  Home  Rule  in  a  very  composite  empire  is  in- 
evitable, but  instead  of  strengthening  a  real  kingdom,  it 
eminently  weakens  it.  Nor  is  it  a  bit  true  that  Mr.  ParneU  is, 
as  you  say  on  page  71,  asking  for  nothing  near  so  large  as 
the  American  State  Government.  He  is,  in  one  respect  at 
least,  asking  for  something  much  larger.     He  asks  for  the 


R.  H.  HUTTON  329 

whole  taxing  power  including  any  change  he  pleases  in 
tariffs.  You  never  even  deign  to  consider  the  enormous 
difficulties  of  withdrawing  what  is  once  given  ;  and  the 
unwillingness  of  Parhaments  to  declare  war  practically, 
so  that  interference  would  be  sure  to  be  postponed  till  the 
gravest  mischief  had  been  done.  But  a  more  one-sided 
argument  I  never  read  ;  though  it  is  able  enough  as  a 
mere  barrister's  case.' 

'  January  27,  1893.— I  fear  this  letter  of  thanks  may 
never  reach  you,  for  I  believe  you  said  you  were  leaving 
to-day,  and  I  never  took  the  address  of  your  yacht. 
But  I  believe  they  have  it  in  the  office  below,  and  will 
get  it  before  posting  this  letter.  It  is  so  good  of  you  to 
have  thought  of  giving  me  something,  and  w^hat  you 
have  sent  me  is  as  convenient  and  beautiful  as  the 
thought  of  it  was  kind.  If  it  would  please  God  to  give 
me  a  little  direct  communion  with  His  spirit,  how^  easy 
it  would  be  to  tell  Him  one's  wants  and  hopes  for  others 
and  all  one's  most  eager  thoughts  and  desires.  But  He 
keeps  me  so  far  away  from  Him  that  it  seems  almost  like  an 
impertinence  to  pray  for  one's  friends,  for  if  one  cannot  get 
one's  own  "  daily  bread  " — consciously  at  least — it  is  almost 
an  act  of  arrogance  to  meddle  in  the  spiritual  and  moral  life 
of  others.  Nevertheless,  my  dear  MacCoU,  I  often  think  of 
you  with  the  heartiest  affection,  and  would  even  pray  for 
you  if  I  did  not  feel  my  prayers  about  as  useless  as  those 
of  the  bad  king  in  Hamlet. 

My  words  fly  up,  my  thoughts  remain  below : 
Words  without  thoughts  never  to  heaven  go. 

'  Thank  you  from  my  heart  for  this  last  proof  of  your 
unvarying  kindness  and  the  patience  with  which  you  have 
constantly  borne  my  own  irritable  and  too  hasty  political 
expressions. 

'  I  trust  you  will  find  warmth,  brightness,  and  peace 
in  Egypt — I  mean  peace  of  mind  and  heart  (as  well  of  course 
as  the  peace  of  the  poor  country  itself).  I  have  begun  to 
think  peace  nearly  unattainable  on  this  earth,  but  that  is 


330  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

only  the  result  of  personal  calamity,  and  I  trust  you  prosper 
better  both  spiritually  and  in  matters  of  a  more  temporary 
nature.  It  will  be  something  to  escape  from  the  depression 
of  these  eternal  fogs  and  darknesses.     God  bless  you.' 

'  October  30,  1893. — You  are,  like  the  rising  generation 
of  Liberals,  a  most  sanguine  man.  Fancy  advocating 
a  Court  of  Arbitration  which  should  have  power  to 
determine  with  what  rate  of  profit  the  various  bodies 
of  employers  are  bound  to  be  contented !  I  believe,  as 
it  is,  that  most  retail  tradesmen  get,  and  expect  to  get, 
15  per  cent.  Large  companies  like  the  railway  companies, 
the  mining  companies,  etc.,  are  generally  content  with  5. 
But  do  you  think  they  would  be  content  if,  instead  of 
limiting  themselves  to  5  per  cent,  of  their  own  free 
choice,  a  State  Court  were  to  decide  for  them  that  they 
should  only  have  5  per  cent,  (or  less) ;  or  again  that  the 
labourers  would  be  content  if  a  State  Court  decided  for 
them  that  they  were  bound  to  accept  45.  a  day  or  less  ?  It 
seems  to  me  that  trade  is  possible  at  all  only  while  both 
parties  keep  their  free  right  of  choice  undisturbed. 

'  I  think  a  Court  of  Arbitration  which  had  to  decide  on 
very  minor  questions — such  as  this,  whether  at  a  given  rate 
of  wages  the  employers  could  secure  the  rate  of  profit  they 
might  think  essential,  whatever  that  was,  or  whether  at 
a  given  rate  of  profit  the  labourers  could  be  paid  the 
rate  of  wages  they  thought  essential  and  get  the  number 
of  days'  work  in  the  week  they  thought  essential — 
might  be  useful.  But  your  idea  of  a  final  authority  as  to 
the  rate  of  wages  to  be  paid  and  accepted,  and  the  rate  of 
profit  to  be  gained,  would  be  fatal  to  trade.  You  cannot 
make  employers  throw  their  heart  into  work  with  the 
terms  of  which  they  are  utterly  dissatisfied,  and  you  cannot 
make  labourers  throw  their  heart  into  work  with  the  terms 
of  which  they  are  utterly  dissatisfied.  I  am  alarmed  and 
amazed  at  your  rapidly  growing  belief  in  State  authority. 
I  believe  in  commerce  the  free  consent  of  the  parties 
on  both  sides  is  of  the  very  essence  of  anything  like 
success. 


R.  H.  HUTTON  331 

'  As  to  Gladstone,  I  feel  very  little  doubt  that  your  view 
of  his  character  is  much  truer  than  Townsend's,^  but  I  think 
you  underrate  his  unconscious  eagerness  and  haste  to  see 
the  fruit  of  his  own  passionate  desire  to  solve  the  Irish 
question.  I  never  knew  a  more  premature  act  (even  assuming 
that  the  poHcy  were  right)  than  the  launching  of  the  Home 
Rule  pohcy  on  the  world  in  1885  before  the  effect  of  the  land 
poHcy  had  been  so  much  as  gauged.  That  Gladstone  prays 
to  be  guided  right  I  have  no  doubt.  That  the  precipitation 
of  his  own  impatience  constantly  leads  him  to  misunder- 
stand God's  teaching,  I  have  no  doubt  either.  I  feel  no 
manner  of  doubt  that  the  whole  disaster  of  our  modern 
situation  is  due  to  his  impatience  and  utter  carelessness  as 
to  the  reflex  effect  of  this  Irish  policy  on  Wales,  Scotland, 
and  England.  He  is  setting  up  self-will  in  all  corners  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  as  a  consequence  of  his  violent 
haste  to  find  something  for  which  the  Irish  will  be 
grateful. 

'  As  to  your  sermons,  I  do  think  you  might  preach  a  most 
valuable  course  of  subjects  of  the  day  on  Democracy,  its 
lessons  and  its  dangers.  You  will  probably  be  too  democratic  : 
but  you  might  perhaps  gain  a  hearing  for  some  very  needful 
warnings  by  your  too  great  sympathy  with  democratic  cries. 
At  all  events  you  are  the  last  man  to  ignore  the  tyranny 
of  the  multitude,  which  is  often  as  blind  and  selfish  as  the 
tyranny  of  the  classes. 

'  I  think  I  agree  more  with  W.  G.  Ward  about  Pusey 
than  I  do  with  you.  I  regard  the  Enghsh  Church  as  a 
compromise  and  as  one  to  which  it  is  impossible  to  be  loyal 
in  the  sense  in  which  Romanists  are  loyal  to  Rome, 
because  I  don't  think  her  infalhble  and  I  do  think  that  the 
evidences  of  her  fallibility  are  conspicuous  on  the  very  face 
of  her  compromises.  But  she  is  wide  and  liberal  and  allows 
a  good  deal  of  freedom  even  in  rejecting  her  own  tenets 
as  far  as  the  laity  are  concerned.  But  I  can't  look  upon  her 
as  a  mother  to  whom  great  deference  is  due. 

*  Now  I  must  close  this  captious  letter.' 

'  Meredith  Townsend,  joint  editor  of  the  Spectator — a  passionate 
Unionist. 


332  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  November  23,  1896. — I  am  really  very  uneasy  about 
you,  and  wish  you  would  go  to  see  Dr.  Archibald  Garrod. 
You  neglect  yourself  too  much.  I  am  afraid  that  long 
stretches  of  misery  harden  one's  heart  and  put  one  out  of 
sympathy  with  others,  unless  one  is  a  saint,  which  it  is 
not  easy  to  be.  But  I  don't  think  you  are  hardened  by 
it  as  I  am  ;  and  I  am  sure,  though  it  is  of  a  different  kind 
of  misery,  you  have  had  as  much,  or  perhaps  more,  to 
bear  than  I  have — more  of  loneliness,  though  less  perhaps 
of  poignant  grief.  And  very  likely  the  lonehness  is  worse, 
God  grant  that  all  the  sacrifices  you  have  made  in  so  just 
a  cause  ^  may  bear  their  full  fruit  at  last.  Do  let  me 
know  that  you  are  better.' 


Richard  WilHam  Church,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  from  1871 
to  1890,  is  admitted  on  all  hands  to  have  embodied  all 
that  was  best  in  the  Oxford  Movement — its  culture,  its 
spirituality,  and  its  passionate  unworldliness.  He  had  a 
profound  admiration  for  the  great  elements  in  Gladstone's 
nature,  but  was  keenly  sensible  of  his  defects  and  errors. 

Church  to  MacColl 

'  February  7,  1885. — It  is  very  kind  of  you  to  write 
about  Paget.2  It  is  a  matter  in  which  I  shall  do  nothing — 
he  is  much  too  close  to  me.  I  shall  not  even  advise. 
Indeed,  my  own  opinion  is  that  he  is  doing  such  a  good 
work,  and  learning  so  much,  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  he 
should  be  taken  from  it  yet.     But  I  shall  say  nothing. 

'  The  storm  has  indeed  burst  upon  us,  and  the  conse- 
quences may  be  very  serious  :  and  that  it  should  have  come 
just  by  the  accident  of  a  few  hours  makes  the  blow  doubly 
keen. 3  I  shall  ever  think  that  Mr.  Gladstone  is  distinguished 
from  all  the  political  actors  of  his  time  by  the  lofty  mag- 
nanimity with  which  he  has  sought  to  subject  even  national 

^  The  Armenian  cause. 

"  The   Pastoral   Professorship   at   Oxford  was  vacant,   and  MacColl  had 
suggested  the  Dean's  son-in-law,  Francis  Paget,  as  the  best  man  for  the  post. 
^  The  death  of  General  Gordon. 


R.  W.  CHURCH  333 

fame  and  material  interest  to  the  rules  of  justice  and  honesty 
— especially   for   that    great    attempt   which    bullies    and 
ribalds  sneer  at  now,  the  attempt  at  "  European  Concert  " 
to  bring  the  combined    force  of    Christian    and    civilized 
Europe,  acknowledging  the  duties  of  high  civilization,  to 
bear  on  the  affairs  of  the  uncivilized  states.  His  beginning  at 
Dulcigno  was  true  statesmanship,  and  showed  how  things 
ought  to  be  done.     But  he  had  to  deal,  East  and  West, 
with  a  very  different  order  of  people  :    and  what  seems  to 
me   his   characteristic   weakness   came  in.     Being  honest 
himself,  he  could  not  but  try  to  treat  others  as  if  they 
were  honest  :    and  as  if  they  would  recognize  and  respect 
honesty   in    him.     He   has   been   utterly   mistaken.     The 
French  began  when  they  left  us  in  the  lurch  at  Alexandria. 
The  Emperors  followed  suit  when  they  saw  the  chance  of 
a  quarrel  between  England  and  France  over  Egypt ;    and 
Germany  has  done  nothing  else  but  blow  up  jealousies  and 
heartburnings,  together  with  insults  and  annoyances  that 
in  old  times  would  have  provoked  a  war.     And  it  seems 
to  me  that  Mr.  Gladstone  has  hoped  too  long  against  hope 
that  he  could  work  with  them  on  the  basis  of  equity  and 
honesty,  and  satisfy  them  of  his  integrity  of  purpose  ;   and 
so  he  has  subordinated  his  policy  to  an  absolutely  hopeless 
condition.     They  never  will  believe  us.     They  never  will 
cease  to  hate  us.     They  never  will  act  honestly  with  us. 
I  cannot  help  thinking  he  ought  to  have  seen  this  long  ago, 
and  acted  with  a  strong  hand  in  Egypt.     The  consequences 
could  not  have  been  more  serious  than  they  are  likely  to 
be  now.     French  and  Germans  would  have  called  us  names  : 
they  will  call  us  names  and  do  something  more  now.     It 
is  the  most  dreary  part  of  the  outlook  that  a  policy  of 
honesty  and  real  friendship,  with  no  selfish  ideas  of  aggran- 
disement in  view,  was  tried  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century  by  the  most  wonderful  and  most  honest  of  English 
statesmen,  and  to  all  appearance,  for  the  present  at  least, 
has  failed. 

'  The  Gordon  incident  is  tragic  enough  ;  but  it  is  only 
an  incident,  though  it  now  naturally  appeals  to  feelings. 
But  it  seems  to  me  that  the  core  of  the  matter  is  deeper. 


334  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

It  is  that  Gladstone  wanted  the  eye  to  see  the  real  charac- 
ter of  Continental  diplomacy  early  enough.  How  dishonest, 
how  corrupt,  how  hopelessly  selfish  it  is — that  he  did  not 
take  his  own  line,  strongly  and  decisively,  early  enough — 
that  he  did  not  make  up  his  mind  early  enough  that  he 
must  act  alone  in  Egypt,  and  according  to  what  he,  not  the 
Powers,  judged  right. 

'  Now  all  the  villainy  of  the  world  is  let  loose  upon  him, 
and  it  is  hard  to  say  which  is  more  hateful,  French  triumph 
or  German  bullying.  "  The  very  abjects  come  together, 
making  mouths  and  cease  not.  The  busy  mockers  gnash 
upon  me  with  their  teeth."  How  the  world  remains  the 
same  ! 

'  Of  course  we  ought  to  wait  for  his  full  explanation  of 
his  Egyptian  policy,  which  has  never  been  adequately  given. 
It  has  always  seemed  to  me  a  mistake  that  he  did  not  do 
this  before,  on  a  scale  worthy  of  the  occasion — challenging 
the  issue  to  the  very  utmost.  I  suppose  in  his  own 
Cabinet  he  has  had  queer  elements  to  deal  with  in  this 
matter. 

'  There's  a  long  story.  It  must  be  a  bore  to  be  at  Ripon 
just  now.' 

'  July  13,  1885. — I  have  been  thinking  over  the  im- 
portant matter  of  which  you  talked  to  me  yesterday.^ 

'  The  question  has  now  become  one,  not  about  editing, 
with  whatever  corrections,  an  existing  book,  but  about 
writing  an  entirely  new  one  :  and  that  on  almost  the  most 
important  religious  subject  conceivable. 

'  It  seems  to  me  essential  that  such  a  book,  to  be  worthy 
of  the  subject,  should  not  be  merely  a  volume  of  essays, 
but  substantially  the  work  of  one  man  and  one  mind, 
however  much  helped  by  contributions  from  others.  He 
should  not  be  merely  an  editor,  but  an  author. 

'  It  seems  to  me  that  the  person  among  us  most  qualified 
to  speak  to  our  generation  is  Mr.  Gladstone  himself,  if  he 
were  able  to  take  up  once  more  the  thread  of  his  book  on 

'  The  reissue  of  Palmer's  Treatise  on  the  Church. 


H.  P.  LIDDON  335 

"  Church  Principles,"  and  throw  his  thoughts  once  more 
into  a  serious  treatise  on  those  lines.  I  cannot  tell  whether 
this  is  possible.  I  only  am  sure  that  in  this  way  his  object 
would  be  best  answered,  and  our  wishes  fulfilled.  If  he 
cannot  do  this,  who  is  to  be  the  author,  whose  mind  could 
mould  and  inform  the  proposed  book  ?  To  save  trouble, 
let  me  say  at  once  that  for  me  it  would  be  impossible. 
Apart  from  any  question  about  qualification,  I  am  already 
committed  to  much  more  than  I  shall  ever  do  at  my  age, 
and  treacherous  strength. 

'  Do  you  see  your  way  to  undertaking  it,  and  throwing 
your  strength  into  it  ?  I,  for  my  part,  should  be  content. 
Of  course,  it  would  be  a  big  job,  and  need  both  time 
and  help  ;  bat  it  would  be  worth  the  pains.  The  plan 
might  admit  of  large  contributions  from  without  ;  but 
the  backbone  must  be  yours,  as  author,  not  merely  as 
editor. 

'  This  is  the  way  in  which  the  matter  comes  out  to  me. 
I  do  not  think  that  we  are  ripe  yet  for  any  such  meeting 
as  you  spoke  of.  For  instance,  no  one  yet  knows  what 
Dr.  Salmon  is  as  a  Churchman  :  and  so  of  others.  It  seems 
to  me  preferable,  if  Mr.  Gladstone  would  allow  two  or  three 
of  us  to  call  on  him  at  any  convenient  time,  and  discuss 
the  preliminaries  with  him  more  freely  than  could  be  done 
in  a  meeting  of  people  who  do  not  know  one  another.  You, 
and  the  Bishop  of  Chester^  and  myself,  would  be  enough, 
if  Mr.  Gladstone  would  appoint  us  a  time. 

'  Two  or  three  names  of  helpers  have  occurred  to  me. 
1.  Gore  of  the  Pusey  House.  2.  Dr.  Littledale  (he,  e.g.  could 
do  a  chapter  on  Casuistry).  3.  Ahhey,  and  4.  Overton,  the 
writers  on  English  Church  History  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
5.  Curteis.^ 


MacCoU  was  first  brought  into  close  contact  with 
Dr.  Liddon  through  the  controversy  about  the  Athanasian 
Creed  ;  and  the  friendship  so  begun  was  cemented  by  their 
common  zeal  for  the  Christian  cause  in  Eastern  Europe. 


1  William  Stubbs. 


336  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Liddon  to  MacColl 

^February  7,  1873. — You  see  what  the  Guardian  says 
about  Mr.  Kingsley's  supporting  the  Athanasian  Creed  "  as 
including  and  allowing  views  with  regard  to  the  future  state 
allied  to  those  of  Mr.  Maurice." 

*  Mr.  Kingsley's  own  assurances  to  you  would  alone 
satisfy  me  that  the  suggestion  made  in  this  paragraph  is 
entirely  without  foundation.  That  suggestion,  I  appre- 
hend, is  this — that  Mr.  K.  does  not  simply  hold  the  CathoUc 
doctrine  of  an  Intermediate  State,  in  such  a  sense  as  enor- 
mously to  diminish  the  gravity  of  the  moral  difficulties 
which  attach,  in  the  popular  mind,  to  the  Revealed  doctrine 
of  an  Eternal  punishment ;  hut  that  he  denies  Eternal 
Punishment  itself.  I  do  not  like  to  suggest  that  Mr. 
Kingsley  should  write  to  the  Guardian  and  explain  himself, 
(1)  partly  because  of  his  expressed  aversion  to  any  letters 
in  newspapers  on  these  great  subjects ;  and  (2)  partly 
because  I  feel  the  disinterestedness  and  generosity  of  his 
recent  line  much  too  sincerely  to  suggest  anything  which 
could  embarrass  his  relations  with  his  old  friends  any 
further.  But  if  you  could  get  his  permission  to  say  to 
the  Guardian  what  he  said  to  you,  it  would  be  very  de- 
sirable indeed,  in  my  opinion,  to  do  so.  The  Guardian 
appears  to  suggest  that  in  order  to  get  support  for  the 
Athanasian  Creed  we  are  wilhng  to  shut  our  eyes  to  all 
the  Truths  we  have  been  contending  for  heretofore — to 
the  Real  Presence,  in  Dean  MacNeile's  case  ;  to  the  end- 
lessness of  the  future  world,  in  Mr.  Kingsley's.  There 
can,  I  fear,  be  no  doubt  about  the  Dean's  meaning  ;  and 
it  is  useless  to  cry  over  spilt  milk  ;  but  the  Guardian  does 
Mr.  Kingsley  an  injustice,  and  the  cause  of  "  orthodoxy  " 
an  injury,  by  doing  so — and,  if  this  can  be  set  right 
without  creating  new  difficulties,  I  know,  from  several  con- 
versations which  I  have  had,  that  much  good  will  be  done. 

'  I  shall  be  anxious  to  hear  any  impressions  you  may 
have  gained  since  our  meeting  as  to  the  real  worth  of 
the   Demonstration   at  St.  James's  Hall.^     Evidently  the 

^  In  defence  of  the  Athanasian  Creed. 


H.  P.  LIDDON  337 

Guardian  is  impressed.  It  is  sad  that  a  "  Church  "  paper 
should  care  for  truth  in  itself  so  much  less  than  for  the 
risks  which  will  be  involved  in  tampering  with  it. 
However,  that  article  is  a  complete  vindication,  to  my 
mind,  of  the  policy  of  the  meeting.' 

'  Ju7ie  6,  1874. — The  result  of  the  Debate  of  last  night 
is  as  serious  as,  to  me  at  least,  it  is  surprising.  It  seems 
to  imply  that  the  false  and  invidious  premise  of  the 
Primate  that  "  something  must  be  done  "  is  accepted  by 
so  large  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Lords,  that  the 
success  of  the  Bill  is  hardly  doubtful.  The  acceptance 
of  Lord  Shaftesbury's  amendment  which  destroys  the 
Episcopal  jurisdiction,  punishes  the  cowardly  bishops 
who  have  placed  their  consciences  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Primate,  and  it  punishes  them  quite  rightly  ;  but 
that  does  not  make  it  less  ruinous  to  the  structural 
integrity  of  the  Church.  What  is  clear  is  that  the  essence 
of  the  Bill — a  cheap  and  easy  method  for  crushing  the 
High  Church  School — is  accepted  by  Parhament,  and  that 
we  may  look  forward  to  the  worst. 

'  In  particular,  I  see  no  reason  to  think  or  hope  more 
highly  of  the  Bishop  of  Peterborough  ^  than  heretofore.  In 
talking  to  you,  he  was  suiting  himself  to  his  man,  not  express- 
ing his  convictions.  Nothing  could  be  worse,  in  my  opinion, 
than  the  tone  and  drift  of  his  speech  at  the  Peterborough 
Conference,  as  reported  ;  and  he  only  spoke  last  night  to 
damage  Lord  Beauchamp  so  far  as  he  could.  He  is  a  clever 
Irishman  with  no  hold  on  principle  ;  wilhng  to  win  a  little 
popularity  if  he  can,  with  us,  by  legally  conceding  a  position 
which  is  ours  by  right ;  but  equally  willing  to  degrade 
the  Holy  Sacrament  by  procuring  legislative  sanction  for 
breaking  undisputed  rubrics,  like  that  which  provides  for 
administering  the  Elements  separately  to  each  communi- 
cant. You  will  find,  I  apprehend,  that  he  voted  with  the 
majority  last  night  against  the  Duke  of  Marlborough. 

'  Things  will  never  be  better  until  the  Bishops — one  and  all 
— are  out  of  the  House  of  Lords,  and  have  no  temptation  to 

1  W.  C.  Magee. 


338  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

sacrifice  the  Church  of  God  to  the  supposed  exigencies  of  a 
temporal  position.  I  hope  and  trust  that  this  will  be  borne 
in  mind  ;  and  that,  with  the  next  turn  of  the  political  tide, 
something  may  be  done.  Meanwhile,  you  will,  I  trust  too, 
write  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  ask  him  to  attack  the  Bill  in  the 
Commons.  It  would  rally  to  him  the  heart  of  the  High 
Church  party  :  .  .  .  Unless  Lord  Sahsbury  lets  the  Bill 
into  Committee  with  a  view  of  getting  it  so  disfigured 
by  amendments  that  it  will  ultimately  be  withdrawn,  I 
confess  I  am  disappointed  at  his  line  last  night.  As  for 
Lord  Selborne,  he  is  an  Erastian  Low  Churchman  who 
trades  upon  the  reputation  of  his  better  days.' 

'  June  7,  1874. — I  wrote  to  Lord  Salisbury  yesterday 
about  this  truly  Irish  "  compromise." 

'  You  are,  I  think,  right  as  to  our  line.  (1)  Resist  in  the 
first  instance  ;    (2)  If  beaten,  insist  on  a  fair  bargain. 

'  The  effect  is  as  you  say.  The  State  withdraws  coercive 
jurisdiction.  The  Church's  law  remains  untouched.  One 
knows  how  this  would  work  in  the  hands  of  an  Erastianism 
which  substitutes  Acts  of  Parliament  for  the  Holy  Ghost  ; 
but — even  as  regards  the  Athanasian  Creed  (by  far  the  most 
serious  part  of  the  matter) — the  Church's  law  would  remain 
as  it  is. 

'  I  still  ho'pe  that  you  may  be  quite  mistaken  about  Lord 
Salisbury.  He  will  mangle  the  Bill  now  that  he  has  got 
it  into  Committee  :  at  least  I  hope  so.  With  Mr.  Disraeli, 
no  doubt,  it  is  as  you  say.' 

'  August  3,  1881. — Thank  you  much  for  the  two  articles  : 
I  am  very  glad  to  have  them.  That  matter  of  the  relation 
of  the  Koran  to  the  civil  rights  of  the  non-Mohammedan 
populations  admits  of  being  worked  out  at  much  length.  I 
have  read  what  you  say  about  the  Tractarians,  too,  with 
great  pleasure  and  gratitude.  In  some  cases  the  modern 
world  has  begun  to  build  their  sepulchres  ;  but,  if  they 
were  still  living  prophets,  it  would  kill  them  all  the 
same.' 


H.  P.  LIDDON  339 

'August  25,  1881. — I  thank  you  for  allowing  me  to 
see  Lord  Derby's  interesting  letter.^ 

'  We  must  both  feel  that  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  written 
contrasts  very  favourably  with  the  manner  in  which  our 
report  was  viewed  in  many  quarters  at  the  time. 

'  But  Lord  Derby  supposes  that  we  came  "  prepared  " 
to  see  something  of  the  sort,  and  that  our  imaginations 
were  too  much  excited  to  do  justice  to  the  real  evidence  of 
our  senses.  Certainly  the  idea  of  encountering  any  such 
object  never  crossed  my  mind  ;  and,  as  for  imagination,  I 
was  in  as  prosaic  a  mood  as  are  ordinary  English  travellers 
on  a  steamboat  after  dinner. 

'  The  whole  story  is  an  instructive  commentary  on  the 
worthlessness  of  first-hand  evidence  of  facts,  in  face  of 
political  or  any  other  strong  prejudice.' 

'  July  22,  1884. — I  am  very  glad  to  see  from  The  Times 
of  yesterday  that  the  Ripon  Canonry  is  settled  ;  and  (as 
you  will  be  sure),  I  hope  and  trust  that  it  will  bring  with 
it  many  opportunities  of  usefulness  and  the  sort  of 
happiness  which  such  usefulness  implies.  In  time,  too, 
it   will  lead  no  doubt  to  something    else    more    entirely 

August  14, 1881. 

^  '  Sir, — I  have  your  letter  of  the  12th,  and  received  the  article  of  the 
Contemporary  Review  with  it. 

'  I  thank  you  for  the  courteous  tone,  and  the  spirit  of  fairness,  in  which  you 
write. 

*  As  to  the  question  of  whether  your  friends  and  you  saw,  or  only  thought 
you  saw,  the  body  of  a  man  impaled,  it  is  long  since  I  have  looked  at  any 
correspondence  on  the  subject,  and  so  many  things  have  figured  since,  that  I 
hardly  like  to  express  an  opinion  upon  it. 

'  Nor  does  it  seem  to  mo  that  much  turns  en  the  matter  in  dispute. 

'  On  the  one  hand  it  seems  to  bo  admitted  that  cases  of  impalement  have 
occurred  in  Turkish  provinces,  so  that  the  question  at  Lssue  is  only  whether  this 
was  or  was  not  one  of  such  cases— not  whether  the  practice  itself  existed  in  1876. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  so  common  for  the  most  honest  and  trustworthy  men 
to  suppose  themselves  to  have  seen  something  which  they  came  expecting  to  see 
— especially  when  their  feelings  and  imaginations  are  excited — that  a  mistake 
of  the  kind  imputed  to  you  conveys  no  censure.  If  it  happened,  it  was  an 
accident  that  might  happen  to  any  man.  It  is  like  a  case  of  mistaken 
identity,  which  occurs  continually  in  courts  of  justice.  The  matter  is  not  one 
on  which  certainty  will  ever  be  arrived  at;  and  may  very  well  bo  left 
at  rest. 

'  I  remain, 

'  Your  obedient  servant, 

'Derby.' 

z  2 


340  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

congenial — at  least  I  hope  so — although  in  these  matters 
we  should  both  agree  that  it  is  not  well  to  look  forward. 
*  I  am  amused  at  the  theological  account  of  you  which 
some  penny-a-Uner  has  put  into  The  Times,  but  it  is  not 
worth  noticing.  It  would  be  curious  to  see  how  "  the  school 
of  Maurice  and  Kingsle}^"  supposing  it  to  be  theological 
and  not  merely  sociological,  would  be  described :  or  what 
are  the  many  points  which  you  have  in  common  with  so 
odd  a  conglomerate.' 

'  September  25,  1889. — Let  me  thank  you  for  your 
article  in  the  Spectator.  You  do  my  little  preface  ^  more 
honour  than  it  deserves  :  and  you  treat  Mrs.  H.  Ward — 
or  rather  the  theory  of  creedless  Christianity  which  has 
come  to  be  associated  with  her  name — with  quite  as  much 
tenderness  as  she  can  claim  from  a  Christian. 

'  The  French  Elections  have,  I  suppose,  turned  out  pretty 
much  as  was  expected.  I  should  feel  more  satisfaction  at 
Boulanger's  defeat,  if  it  were  possible  to  have  any  sort  of 
respect  for  the  existing  Republic' 

December  10,  1889. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — It  may  be  as  you  say  with  the 
future  of  the  City  Churches,  and  Sir  Henry  Peek.^  I  am 
no  prophet ;  but  perhaps  in  political  matters  the  French 
proverb  holds  good,  that  nothing  is  probable  except  the 
unforeseen. 

'  It  may  be  that  before  Parliament  deals  with  the  City 
Churches  it  will  disendow  the  Church  of  England  altogether. 
We  must  leave  the  Goths  and  Huns  to  their  own  devices. 
But  serious  adherence  to  religious  principle  on  the  part  of 
Churchmen  is  more  important  than  the  retention  of  material 
resources  :  and  in  the  long  run  it  commands  the  respect  of 
our  opponents.   .   .   . 

'  I  cannot  answer  your  question  as  to  what  should  be 
done  now — as  I  am  ^  of  a  corporation  which  in  its  entirety 

1  To  the  Thirteenth  Edition  of  the  Bampton  Lectures. 

*  Sir  Henry  Peek,  M.P.,  was  in  favour  of  closing  City  churches. 


BRET  HARTE  341 

has  only  half  a  voice  in  the  matter  as  Patron.  But  I  think 
that  less  harm  will  be  done  if  the  church  is  closed,  than  if  the 
Chapter  takes  the  initiative  in  pulhng  it  down. 

'  Your  affectionate 

'  H.  P.  LiDDON.' 


In  an  earlier  part  of  this  book  we  have  seen  that  the 
old-fashioned  and  timorous  Chapter  of  Ripon,  when  they 
learned  of  MacColl's  appointment,  thought  that  Gladstone 
had  performed  an  act  akin  to  that  of  '  bringing  in  a  lion 
among  ladies.'  But  their  fears  were  allayed  by  the  new 
Canon's  genial  character  and  open-hearted  hospitahty,  and 
they  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  meeting  at  his  table 
eminent  men  who  have  won  their  fame  in  fields  afar  from 
theology  and  politics.     One  of  these  was  Bret  Harte. 

Bret  Harte  to  MacColl 

^January  7,  1889. — I  think  I  can  manage  to  be  with 
you  after  the  15th,  but  will  let  you  know  positively  before 
the  12th.  Will  that  do  ?  T  need  not  say  how  dehghted 
I  should  be  to  compass  the  visit.  As  it  is,  I  am  avoiding 
an}''  engagements  for  that  week.   .   .   . 

'  The  weather  here  in  London  is  simply  monstrous  !  A 
high  barometer,  where  specific  levity  playfully  tumbles 
back  on  us  all  the  smoke,  filth,  and  exhalations  of  four 
milhons  of  people,  a  cold  fog  of  impure  yellow  waxiness, 
muffling  you  up  like  deadly  cerements ;  blinded  eyes, 
muffled  ears,  and  smarting  throats — this  is  what  the 
London  winter  is  giving  us  ! 

'  And  you  write  of  a  "  brilhant  sky,  woods,  and  green 
fields  !  "     Even  thus  Falstaff  "  babbled  "  in  extremis.'' 

'  March  1,  1890. — I  am  sending  you  to-day,  per  Parcels 
Post,  the  book  referred  to  in  the  enclosed.^  I  am  presuming 
you  haven't  quite  forgotten  your  fatal  request  for  an  early 
copy! 

^  A  Waif  of  the  Plains, 


342  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  It  is  a  book  of  boyish  adventure  written  ostensibly  for 
hoys,  who  in  my  opinion,  however,  are  a  httle  more  critical 
and  healthy  than  the  average  grown-up  reader  in  taste, 
and  a  great  deal  less  likely  to  be  deceived  by  any  affectation 
of  style. 

'  I  am  not  responsible  for  the  illustrations  (which 
appeared  when  it  was  published  as  a  serial),  nor  do  I  believe 
the  hoys  should  be  held  responsible  for  them  either — but 
it  is  the  old  style  of  "  picture-teaching  "  that  belongs  to 
the  trade,  and  is  considered  "  proper."  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  cover. 

'  I  hope  you  are  not  lonely  at  Ripon,  and  that  your  ears 
are  kept  warm  this  cold  weather  by  the  burning  praises 
I  have  heard  from  some  of  your  late  guests.' 

'  July  26,  1890. — Very,  very  many  thanks  for  the  review 
of  "  A  Waif  "  in  the  Spectator.  I  am  almost  inclined  to 
get  the  book  myself  and  read  it ! 

'  But,  honestly,  I  am  more  than  pleased  !  It  is  so 
unpremeditated  in  manner  that  I  should  think  you  had 
just  laid  down  the  book  ;  it  is  so  intelligently  appreciative 
and  yet  so  free  from  the  reviewer's  superior  attitude  that 
I  have  no  sense  of  being  patronized,  and  even  forget  to  feel 
flattered  !  And  I  am  so  glad  that  you  did  not  think  it 
necessary  to  'point  a  moral  from  me,  nor  belabour  anything 
or  anyhody  else  while  you  were  praising  me.  That  used 
to  be  my  style  of  reviewing  when  I  was  young  and 
sinful. 

'  If  I  hadn't  already  promised  to  come  and  dine  with 
you  on  Monday,  I  should  make  it  an  excuse  for  attempting 
there  all  that  I  am  trying  to  say  here.' 

'  December  11,  1891. — I  was  so  sorry  to  have  been 
obliged  at  the  last  moment  to  telegraph  to  the  Devonshire 
Club  this  morning  tliat  I  could  not  come  to  Ripon.  I 
had  M^aited  until  then — even  changing  my  plans  that  I 
might  take  the  later  (12.20)  train — but  the  weather  M-as 
so  bad,  and  my  cold  still  so  troublesome  that  I  thought 
it  better  not   to  handicap  your  small  house-party  Avith   a 


BRET  HARTE  343 

detrimental,  draught-evading,  weather-fearing,  self-anxious, 
invalid  again.  As  the  last  time,  I  was  not  ill  enough  to 
be  left  conveniently  in  bed,  nor  strong  enough  to  be  taken 
out  in  all  weathers. 

'  I  am  sorry  to  lose  your  after-dinner  talks  in  the  dining- 
room.  I  have  just  received  my  latest  book  from 
Longman's  :  I  had  put  it  in  my  box  to  bring  to  you, 
but  have  now  sent  it  by  post.  You  may  get  a  com- 
fortable nap  out  of  it  when  you  are  travelhng.' 

'  September  4,  1892. — How  provoking  that  your  con- 
valescence should  be  so  tardy  and  tedious  !  You  do  not 
say  what  Baths  you  are  going  to.  I  hope  they  are 
in  England  for  your  friends'  sake  as  well  as  your  own, 
and  that  you  will  not  again  expose  yourself  to  the 
Continent  where  extravagances  of  disease  and  weather 
seem  to  be  rampant.  Let  me  know  where  you  are 
going.  Although  I  am  still  uncertain  of  my  own  move- 
ments this  autumn,  1  hope  to  compass  that  long-deferred 
visit  to  Ripon.  And  it  would  be  delightful  to  meet 
Mrs.  Henniker  and  her   brother. 

'Now  that  "the  King  has  come  to  his  own  again,"  I 
have  been  looking  for  you  high  up  among  the  honoured 
faitliful.  Why  nolo  episcopari  ?  What  would  you  like  ? 
Frightened  as  I  ahvays  am  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  I  nevertheless 
should  feel  strongly  tempted  to  remind  him  of  your  just 
deserts,  if  I  met  him. 

'  Will  Mrs.  Henniker  really  go  to  Ireland  ?  I  do  not 
know  where  she  is,  or  I  would  write  her  my  congratulations 
on  her  brother's  appointment — if  he  is  to  be  congratulated. 
I  hear  it  is  expensive  and  simply  ornamental.  I  should 
think  he  would  find  the  first  a  detriment,  and  he  certainly 
does  not  require  the  second.^ 

'  Let  me  know  where  and  when  you  are  going  for  your 
baths.     I  expect  to  be  in  London  before  the  end  of  the  week.' 

'  February    4,    1889.— It's    really    too    bad    that    the 

^  The  allusion  is  to  Mrs.  Arthur  Henniker,  sister  of  Lord  Houghton 
(afterwards  Lord  Crowe),  who  had  just  been  made  Viceroy  of  Ireland. 


344  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

autographic  fiend  and  public  dinner-giver — who  start 
into  hfe  whenever  the  newspapers  happen  to  record 
my  modest  movements — should  drop  themselves  into 
your  letter  box,  and  make  you  forward  their  effusions 
and  pay  their  postages  !  It  reminds  me,  too,  that  1  never 
paid  for  those  papers  I  asked  you  to  buy  for  me — Punch 
and  Truth,  and  something  else,  I  think — for  which  I  now 
apologetically  enclose  twelve  stamps  and  ten  thousand 
thanks. 

'  I  hope  you  are  not  getting  lonely  up  there  !  It  is 
very  lively  here  in  London — raining,  snowing,  sleeting, 
blowing — with  brief  Ughtning-Uke  flashes  of  sunshine.' 

'  May  31,  1899. — I  was  sorry  I  had  to  answer  your 
kind  note  with  a  vnve  that  I  was  engaged.  I  know  I 
should  have  been  delighted  to  come  !  I  carmot  remember 
whether  I  was  ever  at  the  Residence  in  summer  ;  you 
have  a  way  of  making  your  company  forget  the  seasons 
in  your  own  sunshine,  and  the  pleasant  folk  who  bask 
in  it. 

'  I  should  like  to  have  seen  Mrs.  Munro-Ferguson  again, 
for  I  think  I  have  met  her  once,  though  she  has  probably 
forgotten  it,  and  I  have  my  pleasant  memories  of  her 
relations.  Let  us  hope  that  I  may  fit  in — even  if  I  rattle 
round  a  little  in  it ! — some  future  hole  you  may  have  left 
in  your  engagements. 

'  I  am  going  to  read  your  book.^  I  am  less  than  a  grass- 
hopper at  these  polemics,  but  I  should  like  to  understand 
what  people  are  talking  and  writing  about.  And  I  always 
experience  an  unhallowed  satisfaction  in  what  disturbs 
people  who  are  so  much  better  than  myself  !  ' 

'  July  29,  1890.— I  should  have  been  proud  if  your 
mantle  had  fallen,  even  accidentally,  upon  my  shoulders, 
but  the  fact  is  that  I  came  home  in  my  own  overcoat  (a 
black  Inverness  cape)  with  my  own  name  and  that  of  my 
tailor  legibly  inscribed  under  the  collar !  It  must  be 
somebody  else  who   is  now  devastating    the   hearts    of    a 

*  The  Reformation  Settlement. 


LORD  BATH  345 

susceptible  sex  and  ruthlessly  breaking  the  peace  of  families 
in  your  familiar  garments.' 


The  most  copious  and  outspoken  of  all  MacColl's  cor- 
respondents, and  certainly  one  of  the  most  interesting, 
was  the  4th  Marquess  of  Bath.  Lord  Bath  was  a  man 
of  remarkable  distinction  alike  in  person  and  in  character. 
He  was  a  high  Tory  and  a  High  Churchman,  staunch 
to  his  principles  in  Church  and  State ,  and  he  detested  all 
compromises,  equivocations,  vote-catching  devices,  and 
sacrifices  of  faith  to  expediency.  He  differed,  in  some 
material  points,  from  the  modern  leaders  of  the  Con- 
servative party,  and  he  was  a  passionate  defender  of  the 
Eastern  Christians  against  Turkish  oppression.  It  was  in 
the  Eastern  Question  of  1876-8  that  he  first  became 
intimate  mth  MacColl,  and  the  intimacy  continued  and 
increased  till  Lord  Bath's  death. 

Bath  to  MacColl 

'  November  3,  1878. — There  is  no  security  against  war 
with  Russia  except  in  this — that  when  the  Russians  declared 
war  wdth  the  Porte,  and  also  last  February  and  March, 
there  were  the  same  reasons  for  war  and  tlie  same  in- 
fluences helping  it  on  ;  we  should  now  enter  on  it  under 
much  less  favourable  circumstances  ;  the  only  additional 
reasons  for  war  are  that  the  Government  are  so  deep  in 
the  mire  that  war  would  seem  the  only  extrication,  and 
that  SaHsbur}^  now  goes  with  Lord  Beaconsfield.  In  the 
spring  of  1877  he  was  decidedly  against  war,  and  in  the 
spring  of  this  year  still  hampered  by  his  position  if  not 
by  his  opinions.  We  have  no  Indian  troops  to  summon. 
All  depends  on  France,  and  France,  I  suspect,  intends 
to  make  us  pay  for  the  Suez  Canal  shares  and  for 
Cyprus. 

'  The  Government  will  find,  and  the  country  also,  that 
we  cannot  continue  keeping  the  nerves  of  the  whole  world 


346  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

at    tension   without    suffering   in   consequence.     Everyone 
owes  us  something. 

'  On  the  9th,  at  the  Lord  Mayor's  dinner,  Lord  Beacons- 
field  will  make  an  effort  to  recover  himself  and  party  there, 
the  occasion  is  one  on  which  he  always  speaks  best,  and 
his  especial  talent  is  in  party  intrigue  and  in  misleading 
the  public  mind.  If  the  Liberal  leaders,  Forster,  etc.,  are 
awaiting  his  performance  there  before  speaking,  they  are 
doing  wisely,  but  it  wiU  behove  them  after  then  to  declare 
themselves.' 


'  November  14,  1878. — I  cannot  tell  you  how  many 
praises  I  have  heard  of  Lord  Beaconsfield's  speech  ^  as 
anticipated  in  the  Echo,  although  I  kept  to  myself  the 
name  of  the  composer.  I  may  also  congratulate  you  on  the 
very  bitter  attacks  that  have  been  made  on  you  by  the 
Pall  Mall.  I  always  think  that  all  denunciation  on  the 
part  of  an  opponent  is  more  gratifying  than  praise  from 
a  friend. 

'  Lord  Beaconsfield  has  taken  a  new  turn  in  his  last 
speech,  although  so  far  true  to  himself  as  to  persist  in  his 
lies  and  misrepresentations.  His  object  is  apparently  to 
smooth  matters  over,  to  calm  feehng,  and,  if  they  obtain  and 
maintain  it,  to  take  the  credit  for  peace — the  half-menace, 
after  he  had  obtained  assurances  they  profess  to  consider 
satisfactory,  is  shameful. 

'  I  cannot  make  out  what  has  been  and  is  going  on — 
certainly  my  impression  was  that  Lord  SaHsbury  had  failed 
in  obtaining  French  support  to  pressure  on  Russia,  but  that 
on  the  contrary  France  is  pressing  very  seriously  the  Greek 
claims  upon  Turkey.  If  so,  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  con- 
cessions Russia  is  making  ?  I  hope  she  is  not  about  to  give 
up  Eastern  Roumeha  to  the  Turks,  or  to  Enghsh  Commis- 
sioners who  would  be  as  bad  ;  I  hope,  also,  she  will  not 
evacuate  the  other  provinces  tiU  she  has  secured  material 
guarantees  for  the  protection  of  the  Christians.  I  confess 
I  am  very  nervous  as  to  what  is  going  on,  and  fear  that 

1  See  p.  61. 


LORD  BATH  347 

Russia  may  find  herself  exhausted,     I  am  very  gloomy  and 
uneasy. 

'  The  state  of  things  at  home  and  the  prospects  for  the 
winter  must  cause  the  Government  great  anxiety ;  when 
people  are  starving  they  A\dll  cease  to  admire  a  spirited 
foreign  policy  that  has  contributed  to  their  sufferings, 
although  it  may  have  been  accompanied  by  ribands  and 
bouquets.' 

'November  17,  1880. — Our  views  a  httle  cross:  you 
anticipate  difficulty,  if  not  danger,  to  the  Government  on 
account  of  the  concessions  they  propose  making  the  Irish 
people  not  being  sufficiently  extensive  ;  ^  I,  on  the  contrary, 
see  a  great  danger  ahead  in  those  concessions,  whatever  they 
may  be,  being  considered  too  large  ;  in  the  Government  being 
reproached  with  want  of  vigour  in  the  maintenance  of  order. 
On  these  grounds  advantage  may  be  taken  of  the  respect 
for  law,  on  the  attachment  of  all,  who  have  anything ,  for  pro- 
perty rights,  and  on  the  dislike  for  Irishmen  that  prevails 
among  the  lower  orders  here,  to  harass  the  Government 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  defeat  them  in  the  Lords,  and 
enable  the  Queen  to  change  the  Ministry  and  risk  another 
dissolution.  Something  of  the  kind  has,  I  am  certain, 
been  in  contemplation, 

'  DufEerin  the  other  day  was  very  strong  in  wishing  the 
Government  to  take  decisive  action,  and  in  complaining 
of  that  present  torpor  representative  of  moderate  Liberal 
views,' 

'  November  20,  1880. — Read  the  Northern  Echo  of  the 
18th  and  19th,  and  you  will  see  therein  a  very  detailed 
and  probably  true  account  of  all  that  has  occurred  in  the 
Cabinet.  There  is  also  a  threat  of  resignation  on  the  part 
of  Chamberlain  and  Bright.  Stead,  of  the  Northern 
Echo,  is  now  on  the  Pall  Mall,  and  John  Morley  is  very 
intimate  with  Chamberlain.  These  hot  indiscretions  are 
most  reprehensible — they  involve   a  direct  breach  of  the 

^  Gladstone  was  now  Prime  Minister. 


348  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Ministerial  oath  and  of  all  good  faith  with  his  colleagues  ; 
it  is  an  attempt  to  bully  his  colleagues  on  the  part  of 
Chamberlain  and  to  raise  up  a  feeling  in  the  country 
against  them,  and  is  on  a  par  with  the  proceedings  of 
Beaconsfield  through  1876-7,  when  he  made  use  of  the 
Press  to  overpower  the  resistance  in  his  own  Cabinet.  The 
curious  thing  is  that  the  Pall  Mall  has,  with  such  different 
objects,  and  under  different  management  in  each  case,  been 
a  principal  instrument.  The  Pall  Mall  also  first  had 
the  information  that  the  pressing  of  the  Greek  claims 
would  be  abandoned.  I  think  attention  should  be  called 
to  these  proceedings,  and  to  the  way  in  which,  in 
Chamberlain's  interest,  Morley  is  working  all  the  Provincial 
Press. 

'  As  to  the  East,  the  position  appears  to  me  to  be  that 
the  English  Government  has  tried  to  settle  matters  by  an 
understanding  with  France.  This  Bismarck  has  contrived 
to  defeat  ;  but  I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  he  himself  would 
not  be  ready  to  come  to  terms  with  them,  and,  as  he  has  no 
real  interest  in  the  matter,  those  terms  need  not  necessarily 
be  very  unfavourable.' 

^November  21,  1880. — Have  received  your  letter  of 
yesterday.  In  the  face  of  Randolph  Churchill's  and 
Salisbury's  speeches,  I  admit  it  would  be  an  act  of 
madness  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  incur  the  risk 
of  Chamberlain  and  the  extreme  Radicals  leaving  the 
Cabinet  and  supporting  the  Irish,  with  the  certainty  of 
a  section,  we  do  not  know  how  large,  of  the  Conservatives 
joining  with  them  to  trip  up  the  Ministry. 

•'  I  oscillate  according  as  I  read  Salisbury's  and  Bright's 
speeches  ;  the  former  make  me  a  supporter  of  the  Govern- 
ment, while  the  latter  send  me  into  opposition. 

'  I  have  often  suggested  to  you  that  you  should  withdraw 
from  politics  and  devote  your  mind  and  pen  to  theology,  but 
I  can  no  longer  repeat  that  advice.  The  political  situation 
is  just  now  so  momentous  that  everyone  is  bound  to  exer- 
cise what  little  influence  be  can  in  the  cause  he  thinks 
right. 


LORD  BATH  349 

'  Can  you  tell  me  if  the  report  you  have  heard  of  the 
Conservative  meeting  tallies  with  my  own  ?  I  was  told 
that  Northcote  objected  to  any  attempt  to  force  on  a  dis- 
solution, and  was  supported  in  that  view  by  Cairns  and 
Cranborne.  I  have  also  heard  that  Gorst  has  been  detached 
from  the  Fourth  Party  and  made  a  salaried  manager  of  the 
main  party  under  Northcote's  direction  ;  but  from  all  I  see 
of  the  meetings,  etc.,  it  seems  to  me  as  if  Northcote  has  fallen 
under  Salisbury's  influence  and  brought  such  of  the  party 
as  follow  him  with  him.  I  am  trying  to  make  out  what  is 
the  temper  of  the  Irish  Peers,  and  how  far  they  are  prepared 
to  make  concessions  ;  the  action  of  the  House  of  Lords  must 
depend  greatly  on  their  disposition. 

'  The  state  of  Ireland  is  getting  daily  worse,  and  the 
agitation  and  its  consequent — the  refusal  to  pay  rents — 
is  spreading ;  yet  I  cannot  blame  the  Government  for 
hesitating  to  ask  for  coercive  powers  after  the  speeches 
lately  made  by  Randolph  Churchill  and  Salisbury.' 

'  December  4,  1880. — I  have  seen  a  good  many  old  Whigs 
lately — their  bitterness  against  the  Government  is  indescrib- 
able. I  do  not  think  they  will  have  much  influence  on  any 
elections,  for  most  of  them  were  neutral  if  they  did  not 
openly  support  the  late  Government  last  spring  ;  still  their 
tone  and  language,  no  doubt,  raise  hopes  and  encourage 
the  Conservatives  in  a  vigorous  attack,  the  result  of 
which,  if  damaging  to  the  Ministry,  will  increase  the  power 
of  the  extreme  Radicals  and  not  of  the  Conservatives.  I  do 
not  know  what  is  thought  of  the  Woodstock  meeting,  and 
whether  it  is  considered  as  a  test  of  the  leanings  of  the 
Conservative  party.  So  far  as  I  can  make  out,  Salisbury, 
in  joining  the  Fourth  Party,  has  taken  Northcote  and  the 
Party  organization  with  him.  I  am,  however,  still  watcliing 
to  see  what  such  men  as  Hicks-Beach  may  do. 

'  I  am  more  anxious  about  Ireland,  whence  the  accounts 
are  daily  worse.  What  will,  what  can,  the  Government  do  ? 
I  fear  they  are  allovvdng  it  to  get  out  of  their  control,  and  that 
not  even  a  civil  war  will  be  able  to  restore  order.  The  desire 
to  avoid  a  spUt  in  the  Cabinet  (already  a  section  of  the 


350  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

extreme  Liberals  have  become  identified  with  the  Parnellites) 
is  possibly  one  reason,  the  want  of  material  force  to  suppress 
outbreaks  another,  for  this  inaction.' 

'  December  17,  1882. — What  strikes  me  is,  not  that  the 
Ministry  have  gained,  but  the  Conservative  Opposition  have 
lost,  both  in  the  confidence  of  the  country  and  their  own. 
Salisbury  I  hear  spoken  against  by  men  who  were  two  years 
ago  among  his  warmest  supporters  ;  there  are  loud  complaints 
against  the  Party  organization,  the  management  of  which 
Smith  and  Gorst  have  given  up,  I  see  signs  of  an  approaching 
break-up  in  that  party  :  the  Fourth  Party  no  longer  abuse 
Northcote,  but  direct  their  attacks  against  Cross  and  Smith, 
whom  they  call  Marshall  and  Snelgrove  ;  there  is  a  section 
working  with  Chaphn  and  bidding  for  the  extreme  men. 
Lord  Percy  works  wdth  Smith  for  the  same  object,  and  I 
believe  Safisbury  and  Arthur  Balfour  are  in  aUiance  with 
them.  Randolph  Churchill,  with  Drummond-Wolff  to  sup- 
port him,  is  bidding  to  lead  the  whole  party  and  to  form  a 
Government  if  ever  they  recover  power.  His  programme 
is  that  it  is  of  no  avail  for  the  Tories  to  remain  hampered 
by  the  landed  interest — that  they  must  propose  some 
strong  measures  to  win  and  keep  the  democratic  Tory 
working  men  in  the  North  ;  he,  in  fact,  adopts  DisraeH's 
view  that  both  principle  and  pohcy  are  to  be  subordinate 
to  the  acquisition  of  power,  or  rather  of  office,  and  thinks 
that  he  can  play  again,  with  the  present  leaders  of  the 
Conservative  party,  DisraeH's  game  with  Peel ;  he  forgets 
how  changed  are  the  surrounding  circumstances,  and  how 
impossible  that  the  accidental  separation  of  the  bulk  of  the 
party  from  its  leaders  should  occur  again.  I  am  as  much 
impressed,  however,  with  the  extent  of  DisraeH's  influence 
over  the  characters  of  men  as  I  have  been  mth  the  smallness 
of  it  over  events.  Randolph  ChurchiU  may  succeed,  but,  if 
he  brings  the  whole  party  with  him,  the  moderate  Liberals 
who  have  joined  it  will  leave  when  they  find  the  Tories  are 
Radicals  under  another  name  ;  while,  if  he  influences  only  a 
limited  number,  he  will  break  it  up  into  two  divisions ;  it 
is  to  this  that  I  look  forward — a  moderate  section  of  the 


LORD  BATH  351 

Conservatives  supporting  a  Liberal  administration,  while  the 
extreme  men,  making  common  cause  Avith  the  Radicals  and 
even  Parnell  in  opposition,  eventually  become  united  to  them. 
'  What  a  triumph  the  late  Archbishop's  correspondence 
with  Mackonochie !  ^  Such  a  letter  from  the  author  of  the 
Pubhc  Worship  Act,  who  said,  when  it  was  under  discussion, 
that  there  never  was  a  rituaUst  over  whom  some  High 
Churchman  was  not  to  be  found  ready  to  hold  a  shield  of 
protection !  I  hear  that  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  has  refused ; 
on  the  other  hand  I  have  been  told  that  he  would  accept 
if  it  was  offered  to  him.  He  is  a  good  man,  but  would  make 
a  bad  archbishop — "  dignissimus  imperii  nisi.^'  ^  Benson, 
if  the  Queen  is  reasonable,  will  be,  I  suppose,  the  man,  but 
I  am  not  sure  he  will  do,  he  is  a  dark  horse.  I  really  do  not 
know  how  Church  would  do,  but  doubt  his  nerve  in  speaking, 
etc. — not  in  action.' 

'  April  24,  1883. — In  almost  all,  if  not  in  all,  you  write, 
I  cordially  agree.  As  a  test  the  oath  is  useless  if  not 
oppressive  to  a  religious  Christian  mind. 

'  The  real  objection  to  the  Affirmation  Bill  is  that 
Bradlaugh  attempted  to  take  his  seat  in  a  manner  insulting 
to  the  Christian,  or  supposed  Christian,  feeling  of  the  House, 
and  to  treat  his  seat  therein  as  a  denial  of  the  supposed 
National  Christianity.  He  failed,  not  because  others 
in  the  first  instance  resented  his  aggressive  infidelity,  but 
because  they  sought  to  turn  the  false  position  into  which  he 
brought  the  Ministry,  whose  professed  supporter  he  was, 
to  their  own  political  advantage.  The  Ministry,  placed  in  a 
difficulty,  bring  the  Bill  in  to  extricate  themselves  therefrom ; 
the  Opposition,  to  further  and  increase  the  embarrassment, 
oppose  it.  The  principle  supposed  to  be  involved  does  not,  in 
fact,  exist,  but  the  introduction  of  the  measure  is  a  tactical 
error  ;  at  this  moment  it  has  the  appearance  of  relieving  a 
man  from  the  just  consequences  of  his  own  intolerance  and 

^  Archbishop  Tait,  on  his  deathbed,  tried  to  abate  the  persecution  of  Mr. 
Mackonochie,  Vicar  of  St.  Alban's,  Holbom. 

*  E.  H.  Browne.  The  primacy  was  not  offered  to  him,  because  Gladstone 
thought  him  too  old — being  himself  older. 


352  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

offensiveness,  and  to  condone,  if  not  to  sanction,  an  outrage 
on  the  religious  feelings  of  the  country.' 

'  January  15,  1884. — I  cannot,  I  fear,  share  your 
views  of  Chamberlain's  exercising  little,  if  any,  influence. 
That  Gladstone  dislikes  him  and  dislikes  his  views  I  agree 
with  you  in  believing  ;  but  we  have  so  often  seen  Gladstone 
forced  by  circumstances  and  his  followers  into  courses  he 
would  have  had  repudiated,  that  there  is  too  much  reality 
to  fear  he  will  again  be  forced  by  the  influences,  so  much 
more  powerful,  that  Chamberlain  can  bring  to  bear. 

'  1  believe  Chamberlain  to  be  thoroughly  unprincipled  and 
without  scruples  ;  to  be  anxious  to  appear  to  guide  Glad- 
stone's policy  now  in  order  to  be  able  to  lay  claim  to  the 
inheritance  when  the  latter  retires  from  public  life  ;  with 
that  object  he  desires  to  commit  him  to  measures  as  dis- 
tasteful to  the  moderate  Liberals  as  to  ourselves,  and  will, 
I  much  fear,  succeed  in  the  attempt. 

'  I  much  fear  that  Chamberlain's  identification  with 
hostility  to  religious  belief  may  help  him  with  the  classes 
to  whom  the  franchise  is  to  be  entrusted.  Among  the 
working  classes,  in  town  or  country,  religion,  I  fear,  counts 
for  very  little. 

'  What  you  say  of  the  difficulty  of  bringing  in  redistribu- 
tion with  the  lowering  the  franchise,  on  account  of  the  Irish 
vote,  is  true  ;  but  to  my  mind  only  proves  the  risk  of 
dealing  with  the  question  in  the  present  state  of  politics. 
The  present  constituencies,  with  a  lowered  franchise,  would 
be  in  so  anomalous  and,  in  some  respects,  intolerable  a 
condition  that  any  scheme  of  redistribution  suggested  by 
the  Government  would  have  to  be  accepted ;  in  other 
words,  in  accepting  the  lowering  the  franchise,  the 
country  would  commit  itself  to  an  unknown  measure  of 
reform. 

'  Much  may  happen  in  the  next  twelve  months.  I  am 
at  one  with  you  in  thinking  it  would  be  madness  for  the 
House  of  Lords  on  any  pretext  to  reject  the  Franchise  Bill ; 
but  it  is  a  mania  that  I  think  very  likely  to  influence  their 
conduct.' 


LORD  BATH  353 

'  January  26,  1884. — I  have  no  wish  to  see  Gladstone 
retire  from  pubHc  hfe  ;  I  cannot  pretend  to  say  what  the 
result  would  be ;  but,  so  far  as  I  can  look  into  the 
future,  the  extreme  Radicals  seem  alone  possessed  of  the 
talent  required  in  these  days  ;  they  know  what  they  want 
and  how  to  get  it. 

'  It  is  useless  to  wish  to  see  a  middle  party  formed.  The 
Conservatives  are  the  impediment,  nor  will  they  ever  consent 
to  it  till  they  are  so  beaten  that  their  adhesion  will  be  of 
no  value.  They  will  insist  on  the  moderate  Liberals  coming 
over  to  them,  whereas  such  a  party  must  be  formed  on  a 
moderate  Liberal  basis  ;  it  must  be  Liberal  in  name  and 
personal  composition,  dependent  on  an  impartial  and 
discerning  but  genuine.  Conservative  support,  like  Palmer- 
ston  in  his  last  administration  ;  but  that  is,  I  fear,  in 
the  present  day  impossible. 

'  I  cannot  share  your  Utopian  views  in  respect  to 
Parnell  ;  I  believe  he,  or  the  sentiments  he  represents, 
will  gain  strength  in  Ireland.  What  I  especially  dread 
in  the  immediate  future  is  a  union  between  the  extreme 
English  Radicals  and  the  Irish,  and  that  is  what  any 
sort  of  Conservative  triumph  will  give  us.' 


'  February  1,  1884. — I  agree  in  all  you  say  as  to  the 
inexpediency  of  the  pohtical  division  being  lateral  instead 
of  vertical — of  all  the  landlord  class  being  on  one  side. 

'  Why  has  this  been  the  case  in  Ireland  ?  Because 
all,  even  nominal,  grievances  having  been  redressed,  the 
agitators,  in  order  to  raise  a  cry  to  which  they  could  rally 
the  people,  advocated  measures  that  no  man  who  had  the 
interest  of  society  at  heart  could  support. 

'  The  same  is  happening  here  already,  in  anticipation 
of  the  reduction  of  the  franchise  to  a  level  below  which  it 
cannot  go.  We  have  Broadhurst  with  his  Leasehold  Bill, 
George  with  his  nationalization  of  land,  advocating  their 
respective  schemes  ;  the  former  winked  at  by  Dilke,  the 
latter  acquiesced  in,  although  in  a  modified  form,  by 
Chamberlain. 

2   A 


354  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  I  entirely  agree  in  the  absence  of  statesmanship  among 
Conservative  leaders,  but  has  there  not  been  wanting  a 
spirit  of  compromise  in  the  Liberal  chief  when  compromise 
was  still  possible,  which  now  it  is,  alas,  no  longer  ?  The 
only  chance  for  the  country  would  be  a  coahtion  between 
Conservatives  and  moderate  Liberals  ;  to  succeed,  it  must 
be  on  a  nominally  Liberal  basis  ;  to  this  the  Tories  will 
never  assent. 

'  The  rising  prophet,  Randolph  Churchill,  is,  I  fear, 
gaining  strength,  and  he  makes  no  secret  of  his  desire  to 
bid  for  the  Radical  element  in  the  constituencies  ;  he  is, 
in  short,  a  scarcely  disguised  Radical.     Quis  custodiet  ? 

'  Meanwhile  I  dread  measures  against  property  that 
will  drive  capital  from  the  country,  and  involve  the  nation 
and  every  member  of  it  in  equal  ruin.  Already  land  is 
practically  unsaleable  in  England,  except  in  cases  where 
there  are  residential  amenities. 

'  Now,  as  to  India.     Are  we  to  hold  it  as  a  continuous 

possession,    or    only    till    the    Indians    are   fit    to    govern 

themselves  ?     If   the   latter   be   your   view,    if    we   are   to 

give  it  up  whenever  the  people  are,  or  think  they  are,  fit 

for  self-government,  I   have  nothing  to  say   against  your 

argument.     But  if  we  are  to  hold  India  as  a  possession 

in  our  own  poUtical,  and  also  commercial  and  economical 

interests,  we  must  recollect  that  it  is  by  the  prestige  of  race 

alone  that  a  few  thousand  Europeans  govern  those  many 

miUions  of  natives  ;  abolish  that  prestige,  equalize  the  races, 

numbers  will  tell,  and  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the 

natives  will  consent  to  be  ruled  by  foreigners  whose  power 

they  can  shake  off  ;  besides,  the  Hindoos,  who  pass  through 

school  into  our  service,  are  in  no  sense  the  recognized  leaders 

of  the  people  or  the  men  who  would  come  to  the  front 

in  the   event   of   their   acquiring  independence.     To  place 

Englishmen,  above  all  English  gentlemen  and  ladies,  at  the 

mercy  of  a  native,   whatever  his  position,   is  impossible. 

The  Turkish  case  offers  no  analogy  ;    what  shocked  the 

feehngs  was   the  oppression  of  a  barbarous  race  over  a 

civiUzed  one — in  my  case,  of  the  Infidel  over  the  Christian. 

If  we   occupied   Bulgaria  or  Roumania  we   could  give — 


LORD  BATH  355 

subject  of  course  to  control  required  by  their  inexperience 
— Bulgar  or  Roumanian  magistrates  equal  jurisdiction  with 
English  ;  but  if  we  took  Asia  Minor  or  Syria  we  could  not 
do  so  in  fact,  however  we  might  do  so  in  name. 

*  It  was  a  fatal  mistake  to  give  Englishmen  in  India 
any  rights  of  citizenship  ;  they  ought  to  have  remained 
under  the  despotism  of  the  Service,  benevolently  exercised 
for  the  protection  of  the  natives. 

'  The  country  has  progressed  during  the  past  hundred 
years,  not  only  by  the  impulse  of  Liberal  ideas,  but  under 
that  impulse  checked,  controlled,  and  directed  by  a  very 
powerful  Conservative  element  that  has  held  a  place  even 
in  the  most  Liberal  Government ;  in  short  by  a  compromise 
between  the  two.  That  compromise  has  been  broken  by 
Gladstone,  still  more  by  Disraeli  ;  and  we  have  on  the 
one  side  the  disastrous  Irish  poUcy  which  began  in  1869, 
and  on  the  other  an  equally  fatal  foreign  policy  in  the 
labyrinths  of  which  we  seem  to  be  getting  deeper  involved 
every  day.' 


'  August  12,  1884. — The  correspondence  you  showed  me 
has  impressed  me  much  ;  it  explains  Salisbury's  character 
and  actions.^  A  pessimist  by  nature,  he  thought  his  mission 
was  to  fight  a  hopeless  battle  well.  Disraeli  took  him  out 
of  his  pessimism  and  dangled  success  and  office  before  him  ; 
he  was  dazzled  by  the  prospect ;  the  defeat  of  1880  has 
driven  him  back  into  his  former  and  natural  condition  of 
mind  and  course  of  action. 

'  Gladstone  wants  to  settle  the  Reform  question  for  his 
successors,  and  then  retire  from  public  life  ;  he  forgets 
that,  when  that  question  has  been  settled,  a  hundred  others 
more  difficult  to  be  dealt  with,  more  bitter,  more  to  be 
fought  out,  will  at  once  come  to  the  front ;  in  fact  they  are 
before  the  public  already. 

'  I  go  through  town  on  the  24th  or  25th ;  if  I  pass 
Sunday  night  (the  24th)  in  London,  I  will  try  to  arrange 
that  we  may  meet.' 

*  See  pp.  89  ct  seq. 

2  A  2 


356  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'June  11,  1885. — My  position  is  this.  I  have  a 
work  to  do,  a  duty  to  perform,  to  sustain  the  nation,  the 
country,  society,  property,  and  order  in  the  microcosm  in 
which  I  am  placed,  and  for  that  smaller  but  most  im- 
portant duty  have  given  up  all  attention  to  greater  things. 
I  have,  in  plain  English,  concentrated  my  mind  on  the  hard 
fight  that  my  brother  and  son  have  before  them  in  this 
neighbourhood.  They  have  both  accepted  an  avowedly 
difficult,  in  one  case  what  is  considered  a  hopeless,  task, 
in  preference  to  wrangling  with  their  own  party  for  safer 
seats  ;  how  matters  will  go  with  them  it  is  not  easy  to  fore- 
tell, but  their  chances  at  present  seem  quite  as  favourable 
as  we  had  any  grounds  to  anticipate.  I  shall  hope  to  see 
you  when  here  next  week,  and  think  I  may  rely  on  your  not 
profiting  by  the  intervals  of  repose  from  fishing,  to  attempt 
to  inculcate  any  pernicious  views  or  views  hostile  to  our 
cause  among  the  population  in  the  neighbourhood. 

'  I  am  disposed  to  agree  with  you  that  the  vote  the  other 
night  ^  was  a  strategical  blunder,  it  would  have  been  better 
to  have  allowed  the  Ministry  to,  as  seemed  probable,  fall 
to  pieces  of  itself,  whereas  now,  whether  the  Conservatives 
take  or  refuse  office,  their  rehabilitation  seems  more  than 
probable.  It  would  have  been  better  to  have  awaited  the 
inevitable  dissolution  in  November,  whatever  its  result. 
I  believe  the  division  was  wished  for  by  the  Government, 
and  has  extricated  it  from  a  great  embarrassment. 

'  Still  I  sympathize  with  what  I  must  assume  to  have 
been  the  motive  principle  of  the  Opposition  (for  I  have 
seen  or  heard  from  no  one  on  the  subject).  I  have  before 
told  you  I  look  on  Gladstone's  principle  as  vae  victis, 
he  ever  in  politics  seeks  to  make  his  opponents  eat  the 
leek ;  he  drives  men  to  despair  and  never  realizes  what 
desperate  men  may  do.  There  can  be  no  question  but 
that  the  increased  Succession  duties  will  be  absolute  de- 
struction to  landed  property  or  to  its  position  under  present 
circumstances.  And  I  write  on  this  subject  from  within 
my  own  knowledge.     I  have  a  property  of  £4000  a  year  in 

^  Gladstone's  Government  was  defeated  on  an  amendment  to  the  Budget, 
June  8,  1885. 


LORD  BATH  357 

Shropshire  that  for  the  past  three  years  has  not  paid  me  a 
shilHng,  that  I  beUeve  to  be  unsaleable  at  any  reasonable 
price.  How  can  Succession  duties  be  paid  on  that  ?  While 
on  my  Wiltshire  property,  on  which  I  depend,  the  payment 
of  Succession  duty  would  be  made  on  the  nominal  value, 
without  deductions  for  the  voluntary  outgoings,  but  out- 
goings which  are  a  necessity  for  anyone  occupying  this 
position.  My  successor  will  have  to  cut  this  all  down  as 
with  a  knife,  and  then  will  be  asked— naturally  and  appar- 
ently justly — how  can  you  expect  to  occupy  a  position  the 
duties  of  which  you  do  not  perform  ?  when  he  will  not  have 
the  means  of  performing  them.  Succession  duty  or  money 
can  be  paid  over  the  counter,  but  land  is  unsaleable,  in  fact 
even  in  good  times  it  was  not  easy  to  sell  it — the  duty  can 
only  be  paid  by  borrowing.  Landed  property  is  already 
over-charged;  the  next  heir  must  retrench  by  cutting  down 
all  his  estate  expenditure,  in  short  by  neglecting  what  all 
around  him,  himself  included,  consider  his  natural  duties. 
And  this  is  how  Gladstone  avenges  himself  on  the  country 
gentlemen  for  having  supported  Beaconsfield  and  opposed 
his  Government. 

'  Now  as  to  Gladstone's  pohcy.  Take  Ireland.  Glad- 
stone is  responsible  for  all  in  his  Church  Bill  and  Land  Act 
of  1869-70.  The  Land  Act  of  1881  I  believe,  under  the 
circumstances,  to  have  been  necessary,  and  taken  by  itseK 
did  not  much  practical  injustice.  I  believe  the  reduction 
in  arable  land  not  very  unfair,  only  rather  excessive,  but 
reductions  were  made  in  grass  land  absolutely  unjust.  But 
what  we  have  a  right  to  complain  of  is,  that  even  by  accept- 
ing that  measure  we  gain  no  security.  Gladstone  cannot 
protect  us  against  Parnell  and  Chamberlain,  and  will  not, 
or  would  not,  till  too  late,  adopt  the  only  measure  that  can 
save  for  us  something,  the  enforcement  or  carrying  through 
purchase  clauses.  You  write  about  Randolph  Churchill, 
etc.,  and  the  British  taxpayer,  but  there  is  surely  such  a 
thing  as  justice  in  the  world,  and  the  unfortunate  Irish  land- 
lord is  not  to  be  kept  to  be  devoured  piece-meal  by  his 
enemies. 

'  You   say    there  is    an    element    of    conservatism    in 


358  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Gladstone's  nature  ;  its  existence  is  a  national  misfortune 
as  it  prevents  his  seeing  the  necessary  result  of  his  policy  ; 
he  is  hke  a  man  who  rolls  a  stone  down  the  hill,  expect- 
ing it  to  stop  half-way  and  astonished  to  see  it  roll  on  to 
the  bottom.  I  prefer  the  man  who  can  contemplate  and 
provide  for  the  necessary  result  of  his  actions. 

'  At  home  I  believe  Gladstone  was  wise  in  taking  Dilke 
and  Chamberlain  into  his  Cabinet,  but  he  should  have  kept 
them  in  order,  whereas  he  has  so  managed  affairs  that  it  has 
been  but  too  evident  that,  whenever  he  retires,  the  power 
must  fall  to  them.  I  do  not  wish  Gladstone  to  retire, 
although  I  wish  he  never  had  Hved.  I  see  no  good  in  any- 
thing that  can  succeed  him  on  either  side,  the  only  chance 
would  be  a  moderate  Liberal  Government  under  Goschen, 
and  that  Gladstone  has,  I  beheve,  rendered  impossible.' 

^December  1,  1885. — To  me  Gladstone's  position  is  as 
inexplicable  as  the  one  you  claim  for  him.  If  he  sought 
power  for  the  purpose  of  governing  the  country,  I  could 
understand  it,  but  he  seeks  an  electoral  triumph  in  order 
to  acquire  power  for  the  purpose,  after  a  year,  of 
resigning  it,  while  he  will  not  tell  us  who  are  the  persons 
or  their  principles  into  whose  hands  he  will  place  it. 
If  the  Liberal  party  is  to  go  to  pieces,  now  is  the  time, 
not  in  a  year  hence.  Sahsbury,  deprived  of  the  section 
of  his  party  who  now  adhere  to  Randolph  Churchill,  could 
not  remain  in  power,  nor  could  the  support  of  moderate 
Liberals,  even  if  at  first  given,  be  depended  on ;  and  moderate 
Liberal  support  would  bring  no  strength,  as  the  Liberals 
joining  must  soon  become  Conservative  and  depend  on 
Conservative  support  for  their  seats. 

'  Gladstone  could  not  avoid  justifying  Sahsbury 's 
conduct  in  foreign  affairs,  but  he  who  allows  himself  to  be 
dragged  by  Chamberlain  through  the  mire  cannot  expect 
Salisbury  to  throw  over  Randolph  Churchill.  The  latter  is 
pledged  to  no  policy  with  the  Irish,  nor  anything  pledged  to 
him. 

'  "While  I  am  cheered  by  the  spirit  the  country  has  shown, 
I  see  no  good  to  result  therefrom  ;    and  what  I  have  ever 


LORD  BATH  359 

hoped  for,  a  moderate  Liberal  Government  leaning  on  a 
modicum  of  Conservative  support,  seems  farther  off  than 
ever. 

'  Chamberlain  had  completely  eclipsed  Gladstone,  but  is 
now  behind  a  cloud  himself.  Salisbury  and  not  Randolph 
Churchill  has  come  out  as  the  leader  of  the  Conservative 
party.  I  was  against  Salisbury  taking  office,  but  confess 
that  events  seem  to  have  justified  his  doing  so. 

'  As  to  Fair  Trade,  the  Tories  have  made  no  promises 
thereon,  or  are  in  any  way  committed  thereto,  but  I  see  a 
strong  movement  in  its  favour  rising  among  the  artisans  in 
the  towns.' 

'  March  21,  1886. — On  the  moderation,  the  friendliness 
to  England,  of  the  Nationalist  Press,  I  do  not  believe  ;  I 
look  on  it  as  being  adopted  in  obedience  to  a  7not  d'ordre, 
to  smooth  the  way  in  England  for  Home  Rule,  which 
adopted,  the  disguise  will  be  thrown  off  and  bitter  hostility 
to  England  preached  ;  outrage  then  will  only  be  deprecated 
when,  all  resistance  to  the  Nationalist  party  and  the  confis- 
cation of  the  land  being  broken,  outrage  will  be  unnecessary. 
Boycotting  and  the  tyranny  of  the  Land  League  are 
increasing,  extending,  and,  to  my  own  knowledge,  more 
paramount  than  ever. 

'  I  do  not  defend  the  late  Government,^  and  I  do  not 
believe  the  influence  of  Randolph  Churchill  is  an  improving 
one,  but  I  should  have  condoned  much  if  at  the  opening  of 
Parliament  he  had  brought  in  a  vigorous  coercive  measure. 

'  I  see  all  the  objections  to  coercion,  the  evils,  the  almost 
fatal  evils,  that  will  attend  it.  I  will  add  the  difficulty,  the 
almost  impossibility,  of  carrying  it  through  in  a  Parliament 
composed  as  this  one  is,  but  I  see  no  alternative  between 
coercion  and  separation,  and  Ireland  separated  will  be  a 
hostile  State,  leaning  on  American  support  against  England. 

'  Personally  I  should  welcome  a  land-purchase  scheme, 
and  look  on  the  situation  as  so  desperate  that  I  should  be 
prepared  to  accept  moderate  terms,  but  I  do  not  see  how 
it  can  be  carried,  or  how  the  country  or  the  House  of 

^  Gladstone  was  now  again  Prime  Minister. 


360  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Commons  will  ever  assent  to  an  expenditure  of  over 
£100,000,000,  probably  £200,000,000  for  the  purpose. 

'  I  have  noticed  since  1870  that  the  Tory  leaders  have 
been  ready  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  Irish  landlords  to 
Party  exigencies,  and  in  the  present  crisis  they  are  justified 
in  saying  they  will  not  raise  such  a  sum  for  the  purpose  of 
making  Ireland  independent  of  and  hostile  to  England, 
and  reducing  the  latter  thereby  to  the  condition  of  a  third- 
rate  power. 

'  As  a  landlord,  I  wish  to  be  bought  out  ;  as  a 
Conservative,  I  wish  to  see  the  Irish  members  out  of  the 
House  of  Commons  ;  but  even  /  hesitate  as  to  whether  the 
price  is  not  too  great ;  I  do  not  mean  in  the  money  required, 
but  the  creation  of  a  State  hostile  to  our  existence  on  our 
coasts. 

'  In  what  you  say  of  Chamberlain  in  the  past  I  agree,  so 
far,  of  course,  as  I  have  means  of  knowing  ;  except  that  I  do 
not  believe  Parnell  had  accepted  his  and  Dilke's  programme 
when  they  contemplated  their  Irish  tour,  which  was  upset, 
not  by  the  hopes  held  out  by  Carnarvon  and  Ashbourne, 
but  by  the  fact  that  Parnell  had  never  acquiesced  therein 
and  by  Dilke  becoming  incapacitated  by  the  public  scandal 
in  which  he  became  involved. 

'  In  your  appreciation  of  Chamberlain's  views  and 
intentions,  I  entirely  agree.  I  have  met  him,  and  much  that 
he  said  bears  out  your  views ;  I  think  only  that  he  hates 
Goschen,  Spencer,  but  still  more  Hartington.  I  do  not 
write  more  as  to  his  intentions,  and  their  consequences, 
because  I  entirely  agree  with  you  and  must  be  brief.  I 
believe  he  will  give  us  (the  landlords)  no  terms  at  all,  rather 
than  less  favourable  terms.  You  may  be  right  as  to  John 
Morley,  but  I  should  not  have  looked  on  him  as  a  man  with 
an  equitable  mind. 

'  I  shall  view  with  no  satisfaction  the  rejection  of  Glad- 
stone's proposals,  though  I  cannot  say  I  like  them.  But 
I  do  not  see  how  the  purchase  proposals  with  the  large 
expenditure  required  can  be  carried  in  the  face  of  the 
economical  depression,  commercial  as  well  as  agricultural. 

'  The  Tory  party  are  desperate  and  disposed  to  fight  like 


LORD  BATH  361 

men  with  ropes  round  their  necks ;  a  situation  that  precludes 
at  the  same  time  prudence  in  council  and  success  in  the 
contest.  They  are  difficult  to  lead  and  control,  and  Salis- 
bury has  it  not  in  him  to  control  them  ;  he  fears  Randolph 
Churchill,  who  only  seeks  an  imbroglio.  I  am  looked  on 
askance,  I  am  powerless.  I  work  with  difficulty  and 
slowly,  and  have  to  give  my  whole  time  to  a  subject,  and 
have  other  affairs  of  sufficient  importance  to  distract  me 
from  giving  my  whole  time  to  this. 

'  I  will  not  quote  you,  but  will  write  these  your 
views  about  Chamberlain  to  others,  but  expect  no  success. 
I  can  only  suggest  that  you  should  write  to  Salisbury  as 
you  have  written  to  me,  but  from  what  I  know  of  him,  can 
hold  out  no  hopes  of  success  to  you. 

'  The  new  Electorate  is  out  of  Gladstone's  hand ;  it  is 
out  of  Chamberlain's  also,  who  must  seek  some  means  of 
recovering  his  command  over  the  advanced  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  Chamberlain  is  a  strong  man,  and  has 
Imperial  instincts,  but  he  is  ignorant  of  details,  ignorant  of 
the  economical  and  social  conditions  of  the  country,  of 
economical  laws,  and  pohtical  economy.  In  Imperial  matters 
he  has,  I  beheve,  with  destruction  some  ideas  of  construction  ; 
but  in  home  matters  none,  and  will  topple  down  the  edifice 
before  he  appreciates  the  necessity  of  erecting  something 
in  its  place.  The  best  chance  for  the  State  seems  to  me  to 
be  that  the  House  of  Commons  shall  be  broken  up  into  many 
sections ;  the  Liberal  party  shows  a  tendency  to  becoming 
so  already,  and  I  hope  the  Tory  party  may  become  so  also  ; 
it  has  an  organization  that  militates  against  that  result, 
but  I  see  some  signs  of  disintegration. 

'  I  do  not  wish  to  cry  over  spilt  milk,  but  after  all  I  was 
not  wrong  in  my  view  on  the  extension  of  the  Franchise. 
I  had  adhered  to  Gladstone  and  done  all  I  could  to  help  him, 
till  that  measure  was  determined  on.' 

'  July  17,  1886. — I  am  glad  you  have  a  good  word 
for  Hartington,  but  cannot  understand  your  attack  on 
Goschen ;  no  man  in  England  has  been  so  straight  and 
honest.     As    to    Chamberlain,    I    do    not    know   anything 


362  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

about  his  principles,  but  I  feel  sure  he  is  ambitious, 
perhaps  selfish ;  he  believes  that  he  will  rule  England 
and  he  wishes  the  England  he  is  to  rule  to  be  united, 
wealthy,  and  prosperous.  To  this  must  be  added  a  strong 
personal  feehng  in  his  contest  with  Gladstone,  where  I 
cannot  think  the  blame  lies  with  him.  Chamberlain  is  a 
strong  man,  representing  a  principle,  a  class,  a  power ;  if 
admitted  at  all  into  the  Cabinet  that  position  ought  to  have 
been  recognized ;  he  attempted  to  take  a  line  of  his  own, 
was  snubbed,  and  hinc  illce  lacrymce.  It  might  have 
been  wise  not  to  have  admitted  him  in  the  Cabinet,  but 
once  there,  his  position  ought  to  have  been  acknowledged, 
and  Gladstone's  public  treatment  of  him  in  the  House  of 
Commons  was  indefensible. 

'  I  have,  as  you  know,  always  admired  your  fidelity  to 
Mr.  Gladstone,  but  I  cannot  follow  your  example.  The 
question  to  me  is  not  whether  or  not  people  turn  against 
him,  but  whether  I  can  believe  him  a  safe  guide  and  ruler  to 
the  country.  I  believe  he  is  absolutely  destructive ;  it 
appears  to  me  that,  if  not  actually  losing  his  senses,  the 
balance,  the  regulative  power,  of  his  mind  is  going,  although 
unfortunately  much  of  the  power  remains.  His  intolerance 
of  all  contradiction,  his  bitterness  against  all  opposition,  the 
silly  as  well  as  violent  language  in  his  letters  to  his  sup- 
porters, so  unworthy  of  one  of  his  position,  intellect,  and 
antecedents,  all  bear  out  this  view.   .   .   . 

'  Gladstone's  tactics  have  been  most  faulty,  he  ought  to 
have  gone  at  the  Conservatives  and  let  the  Union  Liberals 
alone,  many  of  whom  desired  nothing  better  than  to  come 
to  terms  with  him.  He  would  have  gained  on  us,  and  kept 
his  party  together,  instead  of  which,  fortunately,  he  has 
accentuated  the  difference  in  the  Liberal  ranks,  and  given 
us  a  power  we  should  not  otherwise  have  had.  He  can 
brook  contradiction  from  no  one ;  he  does  not  believe  he 
is  the  voice  of  the  Divinity,  but  that  he  is  the  Divinity 
itself. 

'  I  do  not  complain  of  your  defending  your  friend,  even 
when  he  is  wrong,  but  cannot  go  with  you  to  the  extent  of 
sacrificing  my  country  to  friendship  ;   if  his  policy  is  right 


LORD  BATH  363 

now,  and  the  arguments  he  uses  to  support  it,  it  was  wrong 
up  to  this  year,  and  so  has  been  that  of  every  Enghsh 
Minister  since  the  Union. 

'  I  have  not  time  now  to  enter  into  the  Irish  Question  ;  if 
I  did  I  could  not  describe  the  position  so  well  as  so  many 
letters  and  articles  in  the  Times  and  elsewhere  have  done. 
If  Gladstone  was  ten  years  younger,  he  would  have  listened 
more  to  the  remonstrances  of  friends,  supporters,  and  col- 
leagues. When  the  history  of  his  political  life  is  written,  it 
will  be  an  account  of  a  wonderful  oratorical  power,  of  a 
facility  of  persuading  people  and  classes,  but  of  failure 
ever5rwhere,  in  Ireland,  in  Egypt,  in  Foreign  affairs ;  and 
finally  that  he  tried  and  failed,  or  succeeded  (for  we  do  not 
yet  know  the  result),  in  an  attempt  to  dismember  the 
Kingdom. 

'  I  do  not  judge  of  Gladstone's  sanity  by  the  line  of  pohcy 
he  takes,  but  by  the  mode  in  which  he  pursues  it,  by  his  acts, 
by  his  conduct  to  individuals. 

'  It  is  no  use  for  him  and  his  friends  to  scold,  or  to  scream 
at  Goschen  and  Chamberlain ;  both  are  establishing  their 
position,  although  I  think  that  of  Chamberlain  to  be  much 
the  greater  in  the  future.' 

'July  11,  1895. — I  am  entirely  in  sympathy  with 
the  objects  of  the  proposed  meeting  on  the  16th,i  but  I 
am  thoroughly  convinced  that  no  less  drastic  measures 
will  have  any  effect  than  the  expulsion  of  Turkish 
rule  altogether  from  the  Armenian  provinces ;  this 
the  present  Ministry  will  not  attempt  (I  beheve  no 
Ministry  could  effect),  and  in  the  present  condition 
of  pohtics  in  this  country  I  am  not  prepared  to  force  it 
upon  them. 

'  I  have  another  reason,  that  pubhc  speaking  is  always 
a  great  effort  to  me,  and  I  require  a  few  days'  leisure 
before  attempting  it,  which  I  am  not  likely  to  enjoy  next 
week. 

'  For  these  two  reasons  I  must  decline  to  take  the  chair 

On  the  Armenian  Question. 


364  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

and  speak  on  the  16th.  I  will  attend  the  meeting  if  I  possibly 
can. 

'  I  ought  to  have  written  that  the  only  real  and  practical 
solution  is  the  occupation  of  the  provinces  in  question  by 
Russia. 

'  I  have  written  to  you  confidentially  ;  my  formal  answer 
to  your  letter  is  that  I  have  too  many  engagements  before 
me  to  be  able  to  undertake  to  attend  a  meeting  on  the  16th.' 


MISCELLANEOUS 

From  Mrs.  Charles  Kingsley 


October  31,  1875. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  return  you  the  enclosed 
Sermons  with  many  thanks  for  lending  them  to  me,  and 
still  more  for  your  very  kind  letter,  which  has  been  a  real 
comfort  and  help. 

'  The  Notes  on  the  Creed  I  venture  to  keep  a  few  days 
longer,  as  I  have  mislaid  our  own  copy  among  the  mass  of 
papers  brought  from  Eversley,  and  I  should  like  to  take 
a  fresh  copy. 

'  What  you  say  of  his  helping  us  in  that  Life  where  he  is 
now,  makes  me  crave  for  more  words  on  that  subject.  It 
is  a  lovely  thought ;  and,  if  one  dared  enjoy  it  and  clasp  it, 
which  I  could  not  do  unless  I  had  some  more  solid  ground 
than  mere  lovely  fancies,  it  would  be  a  great  help — but  one 
is  too  terribly  in  earnest  and  too  terribly  craving  for  any 
glimmer  of  light  from  the  land  that  doubtless  is  near  but 
seems  at  times  so  terribly  far  off,  when  one  has  lost  {for  a 
time,  only  for  a  time  !)  such  a  husband,  to  dare  indulge  in 
fancies,  however  beautiful. 

'  The  door  seems  so  fast  shut,  the  veil  so  thick.  I  can 
only  say,  All  is  right  because  God  has  done  it ;  and  he  lives — 
he  must  live — and  he  loves,  for  he  must  love  to  all  Eternity. 
He  rests — and  he  works  doubtless,  for  he  needed  rest,  and 
he  could  not  be  happy  without  work.  And  this  should  be, 
and  is  at  most  times,  enough  for  me.     But,  when  you  say  he 


GOLDWIN  SMITH  365 

helps  us  still,  one's  soul  cries  out,  Tell  me  how  you  know 
that  ?  how  you  guess  it  ? — for  clearly  you  mean  more  than 
merely  the  help  which  a  blessed  memory  of  a  noble  life 
and  the  blessed  influence  of  spoken  and  written  words  gives. 
But  I  do  not  mean  to  ask  you  to  write  again.  Every  one, 
especially  the  clergy,  are  overworked  in  these  days,  by 
letters  as  well  as  work.  And  the  unseen  Avorld  must  be 
ever  an  unseen  world  till  God  in  His  great  mercy  trans- 
plants us  there. 

'  Yours  most  sincerely, 

'  F.   G.  KlNGSLEY.' 


From    Goldwin   Smith 

April  14,  1878. 

'  Dear  Sir, — I  hope  I  shall  not  seem  obtrusive  in 
expressing  to  you  the  pleasure  with  which  I  have  read  your 
"  Three  Years  of  the  Eastern  Question."  The  tide  is 
running  so  hard  against  the  better  cause  just  now  that 
one  feels  specially  impelled  to  offer  one's  thanks  to  those 
who  stand  firm,  particularly  when  they  state  our  case  so 
admirably  as  you  have. 

'  I  only  wish  your  preaching  could  be  heard  by  the  un- 
converted as  well  as  by  the  converted  ;  but  I  am  afraid  the 
present  frenzy  has  stopped  their  ears. 

'  The  prospect  is  dark.  Russia,  I  fear,  is  very  much 
exhausted,  and  she  may  have  to  fall  back  and  allow  the  Jew, 
for  a  time,  to  set  the  Turk  up  again.  It  will  only  be  for 
a  time  ;  but  they  will  be  years  of  horrible  havoc  and 
misery. 

'  And  for  this  the  "  high-principled  "  Marquis  of  Salis- 
bury is  going  to  make  himself  responsible,  as  the  instrument 
of  a  man  of  whom  he  has  constantly  spoken  in  terms  not 
merely  of  mistrust  and  aversion  but  of  loathing. 

'  Your  parallel  between  the  eve  of  the  Franco-German 
war  and  the  present  moment  in  this  country  is  excellent, 
and  is  likely  to  prove  true  to  the  end.  Our  Chauvinists, 
too,  may  have  their  march  to  Berlin  ;  and  to  us,  as  to  the 
French,  the  disaster  may  be  a  blessing  in  disguise. 


366  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  Freeman  transmitted  to  me  some  time  ago  an  invitation 
to  be  on  a  committee  of  yours.     I  was  very  sorry  to  be 
obliged  to  decline,  having  already  declined  a  similar  invita- 
tion from  another,  less  known,  quarter. 
'  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

'  Yours  truly, 

'  GoLDwiN  Smith.' 

From  Sir  Samuel  Baker 

September  30,  1878. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — Many  thanks  for  your  interesting 
letter.  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  body  you 
saw  was  actually  that  of  some  poor  wretch  who  had  been 
impaled.-^  Your  description  is  so  perfectly  clear  that  it  is 
unquestionable, 

'  I  am  only  glad  that  those  who  denied  the  fact  did  not 
get  hold  of  the  sketch  I  sent  you,  as  they  would  have  made 
the  most  of  it. 

'  I  was  two  years  in  Turkey  about  twenty  years  ago,  and, 
having  had  considerable  experience  of  Turks,  Egyptians, 
Arabs,  and  very  brutal  fanatics  of  all  kinds,  I  should  not 
be  in  the  least  surprised  at  any  atrocities  such  as  impale- 
ments or  other  tortures  committed  by  infuriated  soldiery. 

'  My  own  Arabs  informed  me  that  one  of  their  friends 
was  impaled  at  Khartoum  in  about  the  year  1855,  and  that 
he  lived  for  two  days  upon  the  stake  in  the  public  market- 
place. 

'  Why  people  should  discredit  stories  of  impalement 
I  cannot  conceive,  as  this  form  of  torture  was  common  in 
Turkey  until  within  the  last  five-and-twenty  years. 

'  The  present  Marquess  of  Winchester  told  me  that  he 
himself  saw  several  men  impaled  in  Turkey  while  he  was 
travelling  many  years  ago  from  Constantinople  to  Belgrade 
through  Adrianople  and  Philippopolis,  and  he  described  the 
operation  as  performed  by  driving  the  stake  through 
the  nave  of  a  cart-wheel  that  had  been  detached  from  the 
axle.     The  wheel  was  laid  upon  the  ground  with  the  stake 

J-  See  p.  48. 


LORD   GRANVILLE  367 

standing  up  in  the  centre  like  a  candle  in  a  chamber  candle- 
stick. The  victim  was  then  hoisted  and  placed  in  a  sitting 
posture  upon  the  pointed  stake  and  pressed  down  until 
his  body  arrived  at  the  wheel. 

'  When  we  consider  the  horrors  that  have  been  committed 
upon  each  other  by  Christians  of  opposing  sects,  and  that 
witches  were  burnt  in  England  only  120  years  ago,  it  is 
easy  to  believe  in  the  brutal  excesses  of  fanatical  Orientals, 
whether  Christian  or  Mussulman. 

'  Our  Statesmen  legislate  too  much  upon  theories,  without 
a  practical  knowledge  of  the  peoples  of  the  East — especially 
those  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  It  will  require  very  many 
years  to  reduce  those  countries  to  any  degree  of  what  we 
may  term  civilization. 

'  Sincerely  yours, 

'  Samuel  W.  Baker.' 


From  Lord  Granville 

March  5,  1879. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — When  I  met  you  yesterday  I 
was  on  my  way  to  tell  Gladstone  that  I  intended  to  question 
the  Government  about  the  understanding  with  Russia  as 
to  Afghanistan  and  with  regard  to  the  ratification  of  the 
North- Western  Frontier. 

'  This  made  me  read  even  with  greater  interest  than  I 
should  otherwise  have  done  your  excellent  statement. 

'  The  only  suggestion  that  I  can  make  is  that  with 
respect  to  passages  which  I  have  marked  on  page  232. 
I  do  not  remember  having  given  Russia  any  assurance  as 
to  the  countries  on  their  side  of  Afghanistan.  Russia  gave 
a  positive  assurance  that  Afghanistan  was  beyond  the 
sphere  of  her  influence,  and  she  adopted  the  English  view 
of  the  boundaries  of  Afghanistan  instead  of  that  which 
she  had  previously  maintained. 

'  On  the  strength  of  this  concession  I  agreed  that  all 
the  influence  of  England,  which  we  believed  to  be  strong, 
would  be  exercised  to  prevent  the  Ameer  from  attacking 
the  Khandis  of  Turkistan. 


368  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  You  seem  to  take  too  favourable  a  view  of  the  Russian 
account  as  to  the  assurances  which  the  Emperor  gave 
about  Khiva. 

'  They  were  volunteered  by  the  Emperor.  I  had  asked 
for  no  assurance.  It  is  probable  that  good  reasons  might 
occur  for  departing  from  his  assurance,  but  he  ought  to 
have  been  aware  of  the  probability  of  such  circumstances 
when  he  volunteered  the  assurance. 

'  Both  he  and  Schouvaloff  at  the  time  thought  that  they 
had  departed  from  the  assurance  which  had  been  given 
to  me.  It  was  an  act  of  amiable  weakness  on  the  part  of 
the  Emperor  to  volunteer  assurances  which  he  could  not 
be  sure  of  fulfilling. 

'  When  in  a  confidential  conversation  Schouvaloff  made 
me  a  sort  of  apology,  I  said  I  thought  it  was  for  the  Emperor 
to  complain  at  having  been  placed  in  so  false  a  position, 

'  Your  work  will  be  of  great  use. 

'Yours  sincerely, 

'  Granville.' 

From  the  Right  Hon.  John  Bright 

November  23,  1881. 

'  Dear  Sir, — I  thank  you  for  the  two  volumes  you  have 
sent  me.  They  teach  a  great  lesson  on  some  parts  of  our 
foreign  poHcy. 

'  I  have  not  seen  the  article  in  the  Times  to  which  you 
refer.  The  Times  is  generally  wrong.  In  this  case  I  sup- 
pose they  want  to  give  comfort  to  the  richer  classes  by  telling 
them  that  nothing  is  changed.  I  think  much  is  changed, 
and  for  the  better — but  I  am  not  certain  that  greater  changes 
are  not  before  us,  and  not  remote.  The  territorial  system 
of  this  country  has  broken  down,  and  the  multitudes  may 
rejoice  at  it. 

'  I  thank  you  for  the  sympathy  you  express  with  the 
friendly  proceedings  on  the  occasion  of  my  birthday. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Very  sincerely  yours, 

'John  Bright.' 


LORD  EDMOND  FITZMAURICE  369 

From  Lord  Edmond  Fitzmaurice 

January  7,  1883. 

'  Dear  Mr.  Malcolm  MacColl, — Many  thanks  for  your 
very  kind  congratulations. i  I  can  only  hope  I  may  prove 
myself  worthy  of  them.  It  will  always  be  a  source  of  great 
pleasure  to  me  to  have  the  beneiSt  of  your  wide  knowledge 
of  foreign  pohtics  ;  and  you  will,  I  trust,  find  your  way  to 
my  room  at  the  Foreign  Office. 

'  I  cannot  understand  what  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  means 
by  saying  that  I  was  originally  an  opponent  of  Bulgarian 
autonomy.  It  so  happens  that  I  am  the  oldest  supporter 
of  it  in  the  House  of  Commons.  I  was  only  prevented  by 
commands  from  our  front  bench  in  1876  from  moving  a 
vote  of  censure  on  the  late  Government  for  rejecting  the 
Berlin  Memorandum  instead  of  making  a  counter  proposi- 
tion to  it,  with  a  view  to  receiving  autonomy  ;  and  I  gave 
way  to  those  commands  most  unwilhngly.  My  motion  was 
on  the  paper  for  ten  days  ;  I  nevertheless  made  my  speech, 
taking  the  occasion  of  Tom  Bruce's  motion  for  papers : 
the  speech  was  well  reported  and  is  in  Hansard.  It  is  an 
argument  from  beginning  to  end  in  favour  of  autonomy, 
and  I  received  the  strongest  approval  of  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  Lord  Russell,  This  was  three  weeks  before  the 
appearance  of   Mr.  G.'s  famous  pamphlet. 

'  Since  then  I  never  said  one  word  to  lead  anybody 
to  suppose  I  had  altered  my  opinion.  It  is  true  that  when 
the  Government  in  1878  asked  for  the  six  millions,  and 
Lawson  opposed  them,  I  voted  against  Lawson.     I  did  so 

(1)  because  it  is  a  very  grave  matter  to  refuse  the  supphes 
asked  for  by  the  responsible  Government,  at  a  moment  of 
great  national  emergency,  even  if  you  are  not  a  supporter 
of  the  Government,  or  are  opposed  to  it  altogether  in  pohcy  ; 

(2)  because  I  considered  that  peace  would  be  the  more 
difficult  to  maintain  with  the  Russians  inside  than  outside 
Constantinople  ;    (3)  because  T  did  not  consider  that  we 

^  Lord  Edmond  had  just  been  made  Under  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
He  was  created  Lord  Fitzmaurice  in  1906. 


370  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

should  advance  the  cause  of  Bulgar  liberty  by  strengthening 
the  grip  of  the  Russians  on  the  country. 

'  There  was,  I  quite  admit,  a  great  deal  to  be  said  on 
the  other  side.  But  I  cannot  on  that  occasion  be  said  to 
have  voted  (T  did  not  speak)  against  Bulgar  autonomy  ; 
or  even  against  my  party,  for  the  great  mass  of  the  party 
ran  away  ;  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  without  telling  anybody 
his  intention,  voted  with  Lawson  ;  while  about  20  Liberals 
voted  with  Government,  including  Arthur  Peel,  Cotes,  and 
Tom  Brassey. 

'  I  felt  very  strongly  that  it  was  not  an  occasion  for 
running  away  ;  and,  though  it  may  sound  illogical,  I  should 
probably,  had  I  known  Mr.  Gladstone's  intentions — which 
his  speech  gave  no  clue  to  at  all — have  followed  him. 

'Ill  health  obUged  me  to  leave  town  early  in  1878; 
as  also  that  of  a  near  relation  whom  I  was  obliged  to 
accompany  abroad,  but  I  took  special  pains  to  pair  against 
Government  in  the  vote  of  censure  on  the  Berlin  Treaty. 

'  Neither  did  I  speak,  as  the  P.M.G.  asserts,  against 
Egyptian  autonomy  at  Bristol  on  November  13.  What 
I  said  was  that,  owing  to  the  absence  of  a  reliable  Christian 
population,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  introduce  the  same 
kind  of  autonomy  as  in  Bulgaria  and  RoumeUa. 

'  I  am  glad  to  hear  so  good  an  account  of  Mr.  Gladstone, 
with  whom  I  have  had  a  most  pleasant  correspondence. 

'  It  has  been  my  misfortune,  I  use  the  word  advisedly, 
to  differ  occasionally  from  him  ;  but  I  shall  always  consider 
him  the  biggest  and  most  commanding  genius,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  the  younger  Pitt,  who  has  ever  been 
connected  with  English  politics. 
'  I  am, 

'  Yours  truly, 

'  Edmond  Fitzmaurice.' 

'  P.S. — I  may  add,  in  regard  to  another  matter,  that  I 
have,  like  Emile  de  Laveleye,  been  an  advocate  of  Hapsburg 
extension  in  Bosnia  ;  but  solely  because  I  believe  that  the 
future  of  Austria  is  that  of  a  Federal  State,  in  which  the 
Sclav  element  will  play,  to  say  the  least,  an  equal,  perhaps 


CANON  LOWE  371 

a  preponderating,  part,  and  the  extension  in  question  must 
ultimately,  by  strengthening  the  Sclav  element,  bring  this 
about.  It  also  relieves  the  economic  blockade  of  Dalmatia 
by  Turkey.  I  am  a  strong  philo-German,  and  I  admire  the 
Magyar,  but  I  have  no  notion  of  their  being  allowed  to 
quash  everybody  else,  e.g.  in  matters  of  language.  If 
you  see  Mr.  Arthur  Evans  you  can  tell  him  I  shall  be  very 
glad  to  make  his  acquaintance.' 

From  Professor  Freeman 

February  21,  1883. 

'  My  Dear  MacColl, — Arthur  Evans's  address  is 
32  Broad  Street,  Oxford.  But  he  shall  know  the  contents 
of  Lord  Edmond  Fitzmaurice's  letter  before  you  can  write. 
They  are  the  best  piece  of  news  I  have  seen  for  a  long  time. 
I  had  fancied  that  Lord  E.  F.  had  rather  gone  in  the  way 
of  Balaam  the  son  of  Bosor.     But  what  say  you  to  this 

expected  promotion  of  the  scoundrel  L ?     I  was  in 

the  same  room  with  the  skunk  at  Rome — at  old  Bowen's 
— and  avoided  him.  There  were  a  lot  of  men  with  orders, 
but  he  did  not  bear  his  ;  so  I  let  out  to  Lady  B.  in  her  own 
tongue  :  6  Oeo/jbd-^oii  alSetrai,  (f)opelv  top  aravpov. 

'  I  am  coming  to  London  to-morrow  for  Commission 
and  go  to  Oxford  on  Saturday.  It  is  hopeless  ever  to  think 
of  finding  anybody  in  the  howling  wilderness  which  men 
call  a  "  metropolis."  I  shall  be  quartered  for  two  nights 
with  Bonney  the  earthkenner  at  23  Denning  Road,  Hamp- 
stead,  N.W.  I  expect  to  be  at  Macmillans'  some  time 
on  Friday,  and  that  time  must  be  before  3.30,  which  is 
Commission  hour. 

'  But  when  will  you  come  and  see  us  here,  which  is  more 
practical  ?     I  had  a  glimpse  of  Liddon  last  month. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Edward  A.  Freeman.' 

From  Canon  Lowe 

March  29,  1883. 

'  Dear  Sir, — Allow  me,  tho'  a  stranger,  to  thank  you 
heartily    for  your    letter  in  this  week's  Guardian  on  the 

2  B  2 


372  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

Affirmation  Bill.  It  expresses  well  much  that  was  in  my 
thoughts  when  I  declined  taking  any  part  in  the  agitation 
against  it.  But  for  the  restrospective  action  of  the  Bill, 
and  the  bearing  of  this  on  the  wretched  case  of  the 
Northampton  Election,  I  should  be  very  glad  to  see  a  move- 
ment among  Churchmen  in  support  of  it.  But  for  the 
present  I  am  constrained  to  stand  aloof  ;  and  am  therefore 
all  the  more  grateful  when  others  state  in  public,  so  ably 
as  you  have  done,  the  opinions  I  entertain  on  the  question. 
'  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

'  Yours  faithfully, 

'  Edward  C.  Lowe.' 


From  Sir  Henry  Drummond  Wolff 

April  26,  1883. 

'  My  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  much  obliged  for  your 
letters  and  the  inclosure. 

'  You  cannot  write  anything  which  is  not  interesting  and 
striking ;  but  I  fear  all  your  arguments,  however  ably 
expressed,  will  not  alter  the  one  result  of  the  passing  of 
this  Affirmation  Bill — i.e.  that  men  will,  under  it,  be 
admitted  to  Parliament  who  exceptionally  reject  the 
rule  of  conduct  recognized  by  others.  I  place  my  views 
on  the  lowest  but  perhaps  the  most  practical  ground. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'H.  Drummond  Wolff.' 


From  Sir  Thomas  Erskine  May 

June  25,  1883. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — At  last  I  have  been  able  to  read 
your  masterly  article  in  the  Fortnightly  ;  ^  and  I  hasten  to 
thank  you  for  your  kindness  in  sending  it  to  me. 

'  I  am  not  quite  so  deep  as  I  ought  to  be  in  the  con- 
troversies with  which  it  deals  so  ably  ;  but  I  must  say  you 
make  out  a  very  strong  case  against  some  of  the  decisions 
of  the  Judicial  Committee.      I    do    not    see    how   their 

^  On  '  The  Clergy  and  the  Law.' 


LORD  HARTINGTON  373 

contention  that  a  rubric  "  by  necessary  implication 
abolishes  what  it  does  not  retain,"  can,  either  logically 
or  legally,  be  supported. 

'  I  think  also  that  your  observations  upon  the 
"  Advertisements  "  are  conclusive. 

'  I  heartily  agree  in  the  opinions  you  have  so  well  ex- 
pressed in  favour  of  toleration  and  comprehension  in  the 
Church  of  England.  I,  too,  have  often  declared  them,  but 
not  so  well  as  you  have  presented  them  on  this,  and 
I  have  no  doubt,  on  other  occasions. 

'  I  am, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'T.  Erskine  May.' 

From  Lord  Hartington 

February  3,  1886. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  ought  to  have  thanked  you 
earlier  for  your  letter  of  January  24,  and  for  sending  me 
your  pamphlet,  which  I  had  already  seen.  I  have  read 
the  latter  with  much  interest  though  I  am  unable  to  agree 
with  your  conclusions. 

'  I  believe  that  the  extract  from  my  speech  at  Belfast 
is  an  accurate  report  of  what  I  said,  but  I  can  scarcely  think 
that  it  indicated  an  opinion  that  anything  which  is  generally 
understood  by  Home  Rule  must  be  conceded  in  the  near 
future.  I  do  not  think  that  I  expressed  cordial  approval  of 
Mr.  Gladstone's  views  on  Ireland  expressed  in  his  Manifesto, 
but  rather  quoted  them  as  approaching  the  extreme  limit 
to  which  any  English  statesman  would  be  likely  to  go. 
I  did  not  make  a  speech  in  favour  of  Lord  Ramsay's 
candidature  for  Liverpool,  but  I  wrote  a  letter  in  which,  so 
far  as  I  remember,  I  expressly  dissociated  myself  from  agree- 
ment with  him  on  the  subject  to  which  you  refer.  The 
animadversions  on  me  were  made  in  consequence  of  my 
giving  him  a  general  support  notwithstanding  this  difference 
of  opinion. 

'  I  remain, 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  Hartington.' 


374  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

I  sincerely  trust  that  Mr.  Gladstone  may  succeed  in 
the  attempt  which  he  is  making  to  settle  this  momentous 
question,  though  I  have  felt  that  I  am  too  deeply  committed 
to  opinions  opposed  to  those  which  he  has  recently  expressed 
to  be  able  to  co-operate  with  him. — H.' 


From  Archdeacon  Denison 

April  6,  1886. 

'  Dear  MacColl, — We  may  as  well  shake  hands 
privately,  at  parting  publicly,  and  put  into  the  fire  all 
words  about  "  Ninth  Commandments." 

'  We  can  never  by  any  possibility  agree,  and  I  should 
never  have  assailed  you,  if  you  had  not  begun.  You  know, 
as  well  as  I  do,  that  my  utter  distrust  of  Gladstone  is  of  very 
old  date.     It  grows,  if  possible,  day  by  day. 

"  I  see  that  in  the  Spectator  of  April  3  our  letters  are 
not  published  in  the  order  that  they  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  Editor.  Mine,  which  has  no  date  put  to  it,  was 
in  his  hands  March  29  or  at  latest  30 — yours  is  dated 
March  31.  As  published,  mine  looks  like  an  answer  to 
yours  of  March  31 — whereas  it  was  an  answer  to  a  previous 
letter  of  yours.  I  suppose  they  are  so  published  because 
mine  finally  shuts  up  on  my  side  further  public  controversy 
with  you  in  the  Spectator. 

'  I  see  that  in  the  passage  you  cite  (1868)  I  did  declare 
that  I  was  against  the  Bill  of  1867  in  respect  of  representa- 
tion of  minority — a  point  I  had  specified  in  my  first  answer 
to  you — Tou  take  no  notice  of  this  fact.  Again  for  "House- 
hold Suffrage  in  Counties  " — no  doubt  I  was  in  favour  of 
that.  But  then  this  was  before  "  Cow  and  3- Acre  "  little 
scheme. 

'  These  are  my  last  words  in  this  matter.     If  you  rejoin 
to  shake  hands  I  shall  be  glad.     But  whatever  you  may 
add  to  it,  I  shall  make  no  reply. 
'Yours  always, 

'  George  Anthony  Denison.' 

^  The  Archdeacon   had  published  a   violent   attack  on   Gladstone,  and 
MacColl  had  replied  to  him. 


SIR  HENRY  JAMES  375 

From  Lord  Lothian 

July  4,  1886. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — (If  you  will  allow  me  to  address 
you  thus)  I  have  received  to-day  your  note  in  which  you 
propose  to  call  on  me.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  partly  owing 
to  my  being  somewhat  knocked  up,  and  partly  because  of 
much  work  in  Scotland,  I  was  unable  to  adhere  to  my 
intention  and  go  to  London  last  week. 

'  I  regret  this  much,  because  I  should  have  much  wished 
to  confer  with  you  upon  the  question  of  the  Edinburgh 
Bishopric. 1 

'  I  am  in  great  hope,  from  what  I  hear,  that  Canon 
Liddon's decision  as  announced  maybe  looked  upon  as  not 
final,  and  that  if  he  could  be  again  induced  to  consider  the 
matter,  he  might  possibly  come  to  a  different  conclusion. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  I  write  now  only  to  say  that  if  any- 
thing occurs  to  you  in  which  I  could  be  of  use,  I  hope  you 
will  not  hesitate  to  let  me  know. 

'  I  have  written  to  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch  to  ask  if  he 
would  be  inchned  to  see  Canon  Liddon. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Yours  faithfully, 

'  Lothian.' 

From  Sir  Henry  James  ^ 

December  3,  1886. 

'  My  Dear  Canon,— Many  thanks  for  your  letter. 
I  share  with  you  the  desire  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the 
Liberal  Party,  but  I  do  not  gather  from  your  letter  what 
practical  step  you  suggest  should  be  taken  to  procure  that 
most  desirable  result. 

'  There  is  a  great  gulf  between  us,  I  fear. 

'  You  beheve  in  Home  Rule — I  do  not.  I  beheve  that 
the  two-thirds  of  the  Irish  people  to  whom  the  Government 
of  Ireland  would  be  confided  are  not  fit  to  govern  the  three- 
thirds.     I  beheve  that  to  place  the  executive  and  legislative 

1  The  Bishopric  of  Edinburgh  was  offered  to,  and  refused  by,  H.  P.  Liddon. 

2  Afterwards  Lord  James  of  Hereford. 


376  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

power  in  the  hands  of  these  two-thirds — such  as  they  are  and 
will  be — would  be  a  positive  crime .  Give  me  credit  for  earnest 
belief  in  this  view,  and  then  tell  me  what  I  ought  to  do. 

'  I  cannot  be  a  party  to  the  commission  of  this  crime 
in  order  to  put  Liberal  pohticians  into  office. 

'  I  agree  entirely  in  all  you  say  as  to  the  probable  fate 
of  the  Liberal  Unionists  ;  and  it  may  be  that  it  may  be 
necessary  to  place  the  making  and  execution  of  the  laws 
in  Ireland  in  the  hands  of  men  Uke  Mr.  O'Brien  and  Mr. 
Dillon,  or  of  Parnell  (who,  with  the  power  to  prevent  their 
present  action,  stands  by  and  takes  all  the  advantages  he 
can  derive  from  it),  but  my  conscience  rebels  against  becom- 
ing a  party  to  such  a  policy. 

'  I  fancy  that  a  good  many  like  me  will  be  quite  wiUing 
to  stand  aside  and  let  this  policy — if  it  be  inevitable — be 
effected  by  others. 

'  It  is  useless  for  you  and  me  to  argue  over  the  past. 
How  could  one  vote  for  the  Second  Reading  of  a  Bill  and  so 
assert  a  principle  he  disapproves  of  ? 

'  There  was  another  course  which  might  have  been 
pursued,  and  which  would  have  produced  the  results  you 
and  I  in  common  desired. 

'  If  Mr.  Gladstone's  Bill  had  been  withdrawn  before  the 
Second  Reading  division,  no  Dissolution  would  have 
occurred,  and  then  ample  time  would  have  been  given  to 
consider  a  fitting  measure  by  men  who  had  not  made  a  rigid 
record  of  their  positive  views  upon  the  principle  of  Home 
Rule.  I  have  never  called  the  Home  Rule  Party  "  separa- 
tists," but,  notwithstanding,  I  have  never  appreciated  their 
sensitiveness  in  relation  to  this  epithet.  They  desire  a 
separate  Parliament  for  the  two  countries.  So  far  as  a 
Legislative  Union  is  affected  they  desire  separation.  They 
regard  Unionists  as  their  political  opposites.  To  us  the 
union  by  virtue  of  the  Crown  is  as  nothing — the  distinct 
power  of  making  separate  laws  for  the  two  countries  to 
us  means  separation. 

'  I  am,  dear  Canon, 

'  Yours  most  truly, 

'  Henry  James.' 


ROBERT  BROWNING  377 

From  the  Duke  of  Argyll 

December  9,  1887. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  recollect  very  well  hearing 
from  a  friend — a  Peer — that  in  early  life  he  had  seen  men 
impaled  at  more  places  than  one  in  Turkey. 

'  But  I  think  you  are  mistaken  in  your  impression  that 
my  friend's  own  escort  had  impaled  the  victims.  I  have  no 
recollection  of  this — and  indeed  my  recollection  is  pretty 
distinct  that  it  was  not  so. 

'  But  this  is  wholly  immaterial  in  your  controversy  ; 
the  'point  is  that  executions  by  impalement  were  common 
in  Turkey  some  fifty  years  ago — and  of  course  this  makes 
occasional  "  survivals  "  all  the  more  credible  and  probable. 

'  I  think  my  informant  was  the  late  Lord  Winchester. 
He  died  last  year  at  a  ^ery  advanced  age. 

'  My  book  on  the  Eastern  Question  had  a  slow  sale  at 
the  time,  and  I  am  surprised  to  hear  of  it  being  out  of  print. 
But  it  would  be  wholly  unsaleable  now,  I  think. 

'  Huxley  is  a  provoking  controversialist.  But  I  had 
hit  him  pretty  hard  for  his  attack  on  Liddon. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Argyll.' 


From  Robert  Browning 

May  23,  1889. 

'  Oh,  no,  dear  Canon  MacColl,  you  by  no  means  were 
likely  to  "  offend  me  "  by  asking  about  my  photograph, 
for  such  a  purpose  too  !  The  fact  was,  in  my  haste  I 
replied  to  your  last  letter,  not  the  previous  one  in  which 
there  was  a  mention  of  your  desire  ;  and  I  remember  that, 
at  the  time,  I  thought  if  you  could  wait  a  little  I  would  be 
happy  to  give  you  examples  of  a  photograph  I  am  going 
to  have  made  by  a  practitioner  who  has,  people  think, 
been  the  most  successful  in  his  reproductions  of  my  poor 
face  ;  but  I  cannot  find  time  to  attend  at  his  place  just 
now.  If  you  wish  for  a  copy  of  Mr.  Cameron's  work,  his 
studio  is  in  Portland  Street  :    samples  are,  I  suppose,  also 


378  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

to  be  procured  at  the  exhibition-room  of  his  works  and 
(better,  perhaps)  those  of  his  mother,  in  Bond  Street. 

'  I  am  unfortunately  engaged  on  Saturday — and  for 
many  days  before  and  after  that  day,  unluckily.  I  can  only 
thank  you  for  your  kindness  which,  I  am  sure,  I  do  very 
heartily. 

'  Ever  truly  yours, 

'  Robert  Browning.' 

From  the  Rev.  Professor  Milligan 

December  15,  1890. 

'  My  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — It  was  a  great  pleasure 
to  me  to  receive  your  long  letter  some  time  ago,  and  I 
would  have  answered  it  at  once  had  I  seen  my  way  more 
clearly  than  I  do.  Then  just  as  I  was  about  to  write  came 
this  horrible  crash  in  the  political  world,  beyond  which  it 
was  altogether  impossible  to  let  one's  thoughts  travel  even 
for  a  moment.^     I  must,  however,  make  no  further  delay. 

'  As  to  trying  to  persuade  our  people  not  to  demand 
that  Disestablishment,  before  steps  are  taken  to  effect  it, 
shall  be  made  a  leading,  if  not  even  a  single,  issue  at  a 
General  Election,  I  believe  that  all  labour  spent  by  me 
would  be  utterly  in  vain.  I  may  have  great  difficulty  in 
seeing  how  the  thing  can  be  done  ;  but  I  should  be  at  once 
reminded  that  we  have  been  led  to  expect  that  such  a  course 
would  be  taken  ;  and  I  would  be  told  that  it  was  not  asking 
too  much,  when  the  proposal  was  to  set  aside  provisions 
insisted  on  in  the  most  solemn  way  in  the  Treaty  of  Union. 
I  do  not  think  that  there  is  the  slightest  chance  that  under 
any  circumstances  whatever  that  demand  will  be  departed 
from. 

'  My  own  impression  is  quite  distinct  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  people  of  Scotland  do  not,  under  existing 
circumstances,  desire  Disestablishment,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  are  keenly  opposed  to  the  secularization  of  the 
Endowments.  Many  of  this  majority  have  no  love  for 
the  Established  Church  as  it  is,  but  then  they  do  not 
believe  that  Disestablishment  would  cure  the  evils  from 

^  The  Parnell  Divorce  Case. 


THE  RIGHT  HON.  A.  J.  BALFOUR  379 

which  we  suffer.  Whether  they  will  oppose  at  the  polls  a 
candidate  whose  political  opinions  they  approve  of,  because 
he  goes  in  for  DisestabHshment,  I  can  hardly  say. 
Sometimes  I  think  that  more  is  expected  in  this  way  than 
is  likely  to  be  realized. 

'  The  great  question,  however,  which  you  ask  is  whether 
a  union  might  not  be  brought  about  between  us  and  the 
Free  Church.  I  answer  that,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  any  such 
arrangement  is  out  of  the  question.  The  Free  Church  dare 
not  break  its  understanding  with  the  United  Presbyterians ; 
and  so  deeply  is  it  committed,  that,  if  it  did  break  it,  it 
would  not  be  worth  uniting  with.  If  we  are  to  have  union 
it  must  be  on  a  wider  scale  than  with  the  Free  Church 
alone  ;  nor  do  I  see  how  union  of  any  kind  is  possible 
without  a  revision  of  the  whole  situation.  Yet  there  are 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  looking  eagerly  for  it ; 
and,  could  the  initiative  only  be  taken  by  some  one  of 
commanding  authority  outside  all  our  denominations,  it  is 
hard  to  say  what  a  following  he  would  have.  I  have  often 
thought  that  an  advice  from  Mr.  Gladstone  or  a  hope 
expressed  by  him  would  have  a  powerful  effect. 

'  In  the  meantime  I  suppose  that  we  must  get  through 
this  present  crisis  in  the  poHtical  world  before  the  ecclesi- 
astical position  in  Scotland  can  again  be  touched.  Should 
it  be  otherwise,  and  you  have  any  further  questions  or 
explanations  to  ask,  please  do  so  without  hesitation. 

'  Believe  me, 

'  Very  truly  yours, 

'  Wm.  Milligan.' 


From  the  Right  Hon.  A.  J.  Balfour,  31. P. 

February  16,  1895. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — Pray  allow  me  to  thank  you  for  the 
books  which  Messrs.  Longman  have  sent  me  at  your  request, 
and  for  the  letter  by  which  you  have  accompanied  them. 

'  As  regards  the  former,  I  need  not  say  with  what  pleasure 
I  shall  read  them,  knowing  your  qualifications  for  the  task 
you  have  undertaken. 


380  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  As  regards  the  latter,  it  is  a  source  of  very  deep  gratifica- 
tion to  me  that  3'^ou  approve  my  labours  in  the  same  field. 

'  Yours  truly, 

'  Arthur  James  Balfour.' 


From  Sir  Horace  Seymour 

January  1,  1896. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — In  the  Times  of  December  28, 
a  letter  from  T.  W.  Legh  caught  my  eye  on  the  subject  of 
Armenia.  He  talks  of  the  threat  to  send  our  fleet  up  to 
Smyrna  in  1880  as  an  "imaginary"  ultimatum. 

'  He  goes  on  to  say  that  the  Government  of  that  day, 
"  impatient  at  the  delay  "  (and  pretty  rightly  so  I  should 
say),  "proposed  a  kind  of  piratical  expedition  to  Smyrna." 
"  This  project  met  with  so  cold  a  reception  that  it  was  in- 
continently dropped,  and  it  cannot  therefore  be  said  to  have 
contributed  to  the  surrender  of  Dulcigno."  "  This  modest 
achievement,  etc.,  has  generally  been  attributed  to  the 
influence  of  Prince  Bismarck."  I  am  astonished  that  any 
man  can  launch  into  print  in  this  matter  without  any 
knowledge  of  what  he  is  writing  about.  There  is  not  the 
slightest  doubt  that  the  Sultan  gave  way  because  of  our 
threat,  and  because  of  that  only.  Mr.  Goschen  was  our 
Special  Ambassador  at  the  time,  and  he  acted  with  much 
vigour  in  the  matter,  and  made  the  Sultan  understand  that 
we  were  in  earnest.  Hence  he  gave  way — and  Mr.  Goschen 
held  him  to  his  word  when  he  subsequently  shuffled.  It  is 
a  poor,  mean  course  for  Legh  to  adopt  to  try  and  depreciate 
the  successful  action  of  his  own  country,  because  it  was 
carried  out  by  his  political  adversaries. 

'  It  is  contemptible  to  rob  Mr.  Goschen  and  Lord  Gran- 
ville of  their  success  in  a  most  difficult  task,  and  to  attribute 
it  to  Bismarck.  It  is  all  the  more  shabby  as  Legh  was  in 
the  Diplomatic  Service  (a  humble  member  no  doubt), 
and  should  know  better.  I  wrote  to  the  Times  to  put  the 
facts  forward,  but  they  did  not  put  my  letter  in.  It  was 
anonymous — but  I  sent  my  own  name  with  it,  and  they 
are  usually  civil  to  me  in  these  matters. 


THE  DUKE  OF  ARGYLL  381 

'  I  agree  with  you,  and  said  so  some  time  ago,  that  if 
the  Government  had  made  a  similar  threat  they  would  have 
saved  many  a  life. 

'  The  present  state  of  things  is  most  discreditable. 

'  Yours  truly, 

'  Horace  Seymour.' 


From  the  Duke  of  Argyll 

October  5,  1897. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — Thanks  for  your  letters, 
books,  and  articles. 

'  I  have  been  holding  my  tongue — for  the  best  of  all 
reasons — that  I  don't  see  anything  useful  to  say,  and  I  am 
sorry  that  your  letter,  etc.,  does  not  help  me.  Of  course  I 
agree  with  you  entirely  that  the  coercion  of  Turkey  was  a 
duty  or  a  necessity — if  the  obligations  under  which  we  all 
lie  are  ever  to  be  discharged. 

'  But  I  do  not  see  my  way  to  overcoming  the  disgraceful 
poHcy  of  the  Three  Emperors.  We  can't  act  alone.  The 
fate  and  redistribution  of  Turkey  is  clearly  a  European 
problem,  and  we  have  no  right  to  attempt  an  individual 
solution.  Both  Austria  and  Russia  feel  that  problem  to 
be  one  so  specially  critical  for  their  own  nearest  interests 
that  they  are  quite  prepared  to  fight,  rather  than  allow  any 
action  by  outsiders  which  may  conflict  with  their  respective 
ambitions,  whilst  at  the  same  time  they  can't  agree  between 
themselves  on  any  plan  of  partition.  This  is  why  they 
support  Turkey,  as  the  best  interim  Government  for  them. 

'  I  have  not  made  up  my  own  mind  as  to  the  best  solu- 
tion. Autonomous  States  like  those  already  established  is 
the  one  I  like  least.  But  surely  the  rule  of  Austria  over  a 
great  part  of  the  Balkan  would  be  a  great  gain  to  Humanity. 
'  As  for  Greece,  her  democracy  has  thrown  her  away. 
Her  action,  alone,  was  idiotical.  The  terms  of  Peace  are 
onerous,  but  she  deliberately  risked  even  worse — dismember- 
ment or  extinction. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Argyll.' 


382  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

From  the  same 

October  16,  1897. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  return  enclosures  in  case 
you  may  want  them.  There  is  much  in  your  letter  which 
is  new  to  me. 

'  But  I  confess  I  doubt  the  effect  you  ascribe  to  Rose- 
bery's  speech.  I  read  it  merely  as  his  dissent  from  a  Party — 
which  he  assumed  to  exist — urging  England  to  act  alone 
in  the  Turkish  Question. 

'  I  don't  think  even  you  come  under  this  description. 
But  I  did  not  so  interpret  the  speech  as  to  ascribe  to  it  the 
policy  of  doing  nothing  except  in  aUiance  with  the  three 
Emperors. 

'  At  all  events  I  don't  think  Rosebery  can  influence  any 
large  portion  of  the  pubhc.  He  could  do  something  to 
checkmate  a  purely  Party  movement  against  our  F.O.,  and 
this  is  what  I  think  he  meant  and  no  more. 

'  I  do  not  know  any  facts  which  prove  that  Greece  was 
not  the  aggressor  in  the  Thessaly  War.  I  sympathize  with 
her  in  her  desire  to  do  all  she  could.  But  it  was  folly  to 
think  she  could  alone. 

'  The  hatred  of  Greece  among  the  Emperors  may  be  due 
to  the  cause  to  which  you  assign  it — hatred  and  fear  of 
Greek  democracy — very  Ukely.  It  clearly  is  a  bitter  hatred 
— whatever  be  the  cause. 

'  When  in  Corfu  lately  I  heard  a  good  deal  which  makes 
me  distrust  Greece  as  a  good  Government. 

'  I  fear  it  is  very  corrupt,  as  all  modern  democracies  are, 

'  As  to  Austria,  I  cannot  dread  her  as  you  do.  The  rival 
Priesthoods  of  the  West  and  East  must  fight  it  out  between 
them. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Argyll.' 

From  the  same 

November  28,  1897. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — Thanks  for  your  very  interest- 
ing Review.     I  can't  undertake  one  myself.     All  I  have 


THE  DUKE  OE  WESTMINSTER  383 

ready  to  say  is  said  in  my  little  Poem  of  an  Elegy  on  Tenny- 
son— published  in  my  volume  of  poems  called  "  The  Burdens 
of  Belief." 

'  Old  Lord  Tennyson  liked  them  much,  and  they  are  the 
only  lines  I  saw  which  gave  any  idea  of  his  reHgious  teaching. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Argyll.' 

From  the  Duke  of  Westminster 

January  23,  1898. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — I  have  to  offer  an  excuse  for  the 
delay  that  has  occurred  in  answering  your  letter  and  in  re- 
turning the  interesting  communication  from  the  King  of 
Greece.  But  a  three  weeks'  chest-cold  and  cough  have 
pulled  me  down  and  made  me  unable  for  everything.  We 
must  all  most  sincerely  hope  that  Prince  George  may  be 
appointed  to  Crete,  it  would  be  certainly  what  we  should 
most  desire,  and  the  happiest  solution  of  the  difficulty — 
indeed  so  happy  that  one  almost  doubts  the  possibiHty  of 
its  reahzation  ! 

'  The  Mandarins  must  be  fairly  puzzled  just  now  and  in 
a  very  tight  place.  Will  they  have  the  pluck  to  take  our 
money  ?     I  doubt  it. 

'  With  kind  regards,  believe  me  to  be, 

'  Yours  very  trul}^ 

'Westminster.' 

From  the  same 

October  18,  1898. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — I  am  obliged  to  you  for  letting  me 
see  the  two  letters,  which  I  return.  I  had  read  your  article 
in  the  Observer  of  Sunday  last,  and  am  truly  glad  that  the 
"  Powers  "  will  allow  of  no  sort  or  scrap  of  Turkish  garrison 
in  Crete. 

'  I  hope  now  that  at  last  brighter  days  are  in  store  for 
that  island,  and  that  some  of  us  may  live  to  see  a  stable 
government,  I  hope  under  Greece,  estabUshed  there. 
There  must  be  difficulties  for  some  time  in  keeping  the  peace 


384  MALCOLM  MACOOLL 

between  the  Christians  and  Mohammedans  ;  and  the  misrule 
of  centuries  cannot  be  remedied  in  five  minutes. 

'  Beheve  me  to  be, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Westmtnster.' 

From  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman 

May  9,  1899. 

'  Dear  Mr.  MacColl, — I  am  very  much  obliged  for  your 
letter,  but  especially  for  your  book,^  which  seems  to  me  to 
be  admirably  clear  and  equally  temperate  and  reasonable. 
I  have  only  read  parts  of  it  yet,  and  the  case  you  make  out 
for  many  of  your  theses  is  very  strong.  Of  course  I  am 
not  one  of  your  own  people,  and  therefore  my  judgment  is 
academical  merely,  like  that  of  a  neighbour  witnessing 
domestic  quarrels. 

'  I  have  not  found  anyone  here — not  even  Sam  Smith  2 
himseK — who  has  a  word  to  say  for  the  Bill,3  but  when  people 
wish  to  vote  for  a  bad  Bill  they  always  declare  it  to  be  a 
mere  form  of  protest.  I  confess  I  can  hardly  take  that 
view  myself. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  H.  Campbell-Bannerman.' 

From  the  Duke  of  Argyll 

August  17,  1899. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — Thanks  for  your  letter  of  the 
12th.     I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  you  have  been  so  ill. 

'  I  find  on  enquiry  that  the  spiritual  functions  of  the 
Eldership  in  Scotland  have  fallen  into  complete  desuetude. 
But  in  the  ceremony  of  admission,  besides  the  "  right  hand 
of  fellowship  "  there  is  an  address  for  the  Minister  implying 
that  Elders  are  to  pray  with  the  sick,  visit,  see  to  discipline, 
etc.  All  this  is  fallen  out  of  use  and  few  (rural)  Elders  would 
now  be  fit  for  such  work. 

'  My  point  remains — they  are  "  Ofjice-Bearers  "  hut  not 
ecclesiastics  in  any  ordinary  sense  of  the  word.     They  are 

1  The  Reformation  Settlement.  ^  M.P.  for  Flintshire. 

2  The  Church  Discipline  Bill. 


II 


THE  BISHOP  OF  BRISTOL  385 

gamekeepers,  gardeners,  overseers,  shopkeepers,  and  a  jtw 
gentlemen,  except  in  cities. 

'  How  far  the  General  Assembly  could  join  in  Legislation 
is  a  difficult  question. 

'  But  in  having  the  unlimited  power  of  interpretation 
it  practically  can  largely  modify  the  creed  of  the  Church. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Akgyll.' 

From  Lord  Crewe 

February  22,  1900. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  in  your  debt  for  a  kind 
letter  received  from  you  before  I  left  England  :  a  sharp 
rheumatic  attack  kept  me  unable  to  attend  either  to 
business  or  pleasure,  under  which  latter  head  the  receipt 
of  your  letter  certainly  came.  Later  events  have  entirely 
justified  what  you  said  of  S.  African  affairs,  and  of  the 
curious  entetement  which  affected  the  country.  They 
would  have  gone  into  any  war  during  the  last  four  years, 
with  France,  Germany,  Russia,  or  the  U.S.,  with  the  same 
light  heart,  I  believe. 

'  To  my  mind  the  gravest  aspect  of  the  whole  matter  is 
this — that  what  would  be  called  a  "  generous  "  settlement  of 
our  relations  with  the  Repubhcs  is  impracticable  ;  while  the 
probable  settlement — one  of  a  drastic  and  absorbing  sort — 
will  lay  us  open  to  charges  of  having  intended  annexation 
all  through,  which  will  be  exceedingly  hard  to  disprove. 

'  We  have  had  a  pleasant  time  in  Egypt,  and  I  am  quite 
set  up  again,  while  it  has  also  suited  Lady  C.  admirably. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 
'  Crewe.' 

From  the  Bishop  of  Bristol^ 

January  21,  1901. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — You  are  very  good  to  send  me  your 
9th  edition.  Few  books  have  had  so  great  a  success  ; 
none,  I  think,  of  this  nature. 

^  G.  F.  Browne,  formerly  MacColl's  tutor  at  Glenalmond. 

2  c 


386  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

'  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  clear  and  definite 
proof  is  not  possible  on  either  side.  There  will  always  be 
enough  ground  for  a  well-balanced  and  really  earnest  mind 
to  hold  with  you  and  to  hold  against  you.  The  main  cause 
of  the  present  strife  is  that,  while  it  is  easy  for  you  to  maintain 
your  view  with  bonhomie,  and  without  assault,  the  other 
side  is  by  nature  the  attacking  side,  and  accusations  of 
unfruitfulness  are  a  natural  weapon. 

'  I  trust  that  the  sorrow  of  the  nation  will  feel  the 
unseemliness  of  all  that  goes  beyond  fair  argument  in 
Church  matters.  It  is  wonderful  what  death  can  do  for 
those  who  remain. i 

'  Our  very  kind  regards.  We  are  still  living  from  hand 
to  mouth,  in  a  very  inadequate  hired  house.  But  I  have 
built  a  modest  palace,  which  we  hope  to  enter  in  April. 
There  we  could  see  you. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  G.  F.  Bristol.' 

From  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman 

June  29,  1801. 

'  Dear  Canon  MacColl, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
your  cordial  and  cheering  letter.  What  you  say  of  the 
change  of  tone  in  the  country  is  most  interesting,  and  I  only 
hope  that  sanity  will  be  gradually  restored. 

'  Things  are  not  easy  in  politics,  as  you  will  have  seen  ; 
but  I  am  delighted  with  the  orderly,  loyal,  friendly  spirit 
of  the  great  body  of  my  people  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
I  think  they  will  effectively  quell  mutiny. 
'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  H.  Campbell-Bannerman." 

From  Lord  Spencer 

January  26,  1902. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — Many  thanks  for  your  letter  with 
the  excellent  MS.  article  upon  your  article  in  the  Fortnightly 

^  Queen  Victoria  died  Januarj-  22,  1901. 


LORD  SPENCER  387 

Review.  I  have  the  Review  and  will  read  it.  The  quota- 
tions from  Lord  EUenborough  and  Lord  Cairns  are  very 
applicable,  and,  coming  from  the  centre  of  the  Toryism  of 
the  day,  will  be  useful. 

'  My  heart  is  very  sick  as  to  Liberal  politics  just  now. 
I  see  as  yet  no  daylight  in  the  heavy  cloud  which  over- 
shadows us  and  spoils  the  vigour  of  our  action. 

'  But  I  have  great  confidence  that  we  who  work  with  the 
bulk  of  the  party  are  right,  and  that  right  will  in  the  end 
prevail. 

'  What  are  to  be  the  principles  of  the  New  Liberal 
party  ?  I  can  see  nothing  which  separates  them  from  the 
so-called  Liberal  Unionists  of  the  Conservative  Government. 

'  I  personally  cannot  give  up  the  old  principles  of  Grey, 
Cobden,  Gladstone.  I  am  ready  to  hold  my  hand  when  the 
occasion  for  applying  them  is  not  auspicious,  and  I  am  also 
ready  to  work  them  out  on  fresh  hnes  to  suit  the  constant 
changes  of  circumstances  in  the  condition  of  the  people  and 
of  the  institutions  which  have  to  be  dealt  with. 

'  As  to  the  war,  I  agree  with  you  that  many  things  have 
been  done  which  merit  the  application  of  the  words 
"  methods  of  barbarism,"  but  at  the  same  time  I  regret 
that  Sir  Henry  C.B.  used  them,  for  they  were  sure  to  be 
misread  by  unscrupulous  Party  fighters  in  a  way  which, 
however  untrue,  leave  behind  them  everywhere  an  evil 
odour.  And  a  Party  leader  must,  without  abating  the 
force  of  his  protest,  be  careful  to  use  terms  which  cannot 
be  perverted. 

'  In  saying  this  you  must  know  that  no  one  more 
strenuously  supports  Sir  Henry  C.B.  than  I  do.  He  has 
been  shamefully  treated  by  the  so-called  Liberal  Imperiahsts, 
who  have  copied  the  methods  of  the  Tories  in  their  attacks 
on  him. 

'  The  strange  feature  in  the  attitude  of  Liberals,  and 
especially  of  young  Liberals,  seems  to  me  to  be  their  excessive 
sensitiveness,  their  inability  to  see  that  in  working  for  great 
principles  the  Liberal  party  must  have  its  varying  shades  of 
opinions  (just  as  the  Tories  have),  and  that  they  can  unite 
to  carry  out  great  objects.     But  instead  of  that,  they  are 

2  c  2 


388  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

ready  to  faint  and  fall  out  of  the  ranks  if  their  Leader  uses 
an  expression  which  they  do  not  like,  or  if  they  find  them- 
selves in  the  same  Lobby  with  politicians  who  are  extreme, 
say  with  Lloyd  George  or  the  Irish. 

'  They  seem  terrified  of  the  slightest  contact  with  these 
men,  and  care  nothing  as  to  the  real  policy  of  their  Leaders, 
who  may  dislike  as  much  as  they  do  the  extreme  utterances 
of  Welsh  or  Irish  M.P.'s. 

'  But  I  must  not  run  on  with  a  letter  already  too  long. 
I  do  not  forget,  however,  pleasant  talks  at  Nauheim,  and 
the  recollection  has  led  me  on  farther  than  I  intended 
when  I  began  this  letter. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  SPElSrCEE.' 

From  the  Right  Hon.  A.  J.  Balfour 

September  18,  1903. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — I  am  well  aware  how  easy  is  mis- 
representation, both  of  general  policy  and  of  particular 
statements,  when  a  question  is  at  issue  which  so  naturally 
and  so  rightly  arouses  public  sentiment,  as  does  the 
miserable  condition  of  Macedonia. 

'  My  statement,  however,  in  the  House  of  Commons 
was,  I  believe,  perfectly  accurate.  The  reforms  proposed 
by  Austria  and  Russia  were,  no  doubt,  modest  in  their 
character.  Those  Powers  thought  (and,  can  anyone  say 
wrongly  ? )  that  the  great  thing  was  to  have  genuine  reforms 
initiated,  and  that  some  substantial  instalment  of  good 
government  was  easier  to  obtain,  and,  therefore,  far  more 
efficacious,  than  the  most  admirable  "paper  "  constitution 
which  was  too  ambitious  to  be  easily  carried  out. 

'  The  responsibility  for  not  having  given  even  this  modest 
instalment  of  reforms  a  chance  must  be  divided  between 
the  Porte  and  the  Revolutionary  Committees.  Their 
postponement  was  criminal,  and  I  believe  I  was  right  in 
saying  in  August  that  at  that  time  the  balance  of  criminality 
lay  with  the  Committees. 

'  I  can  assure  you  there  is  no  "  apathy  "  on  the  part 


II 


LORD  SPENCER  389 

of  the  Government.  It  would,  however,  be  insanity, 
in  my  opinion,  to  take  independent  action.  In  the  present 
condition  of  affairs  it  must  be  through  the  two  Powers  most 
closely  interested  that  European  intervention  in  the  affairs 
of  the  near  East  must  be  exercised.  The  opposite  policy 
would,  I  think,  not  be  better,  but  worse,  for  the  populations 
concerned.' 

'  Yours  truly, 

'  Arthur  James  Balfour.' 

From  Lord  Spencer 

November  8,  1903. 

'  My  Dear  Canon, — Your  letter  touches  me  very 
much  :  you  appreciate  the  noble  character  of  my  beloved 
wife.^  Her  purity,  her  high  principles,  her  ability,  her 
marvellous  courage  and  patience,  were  most  remarkable 
and  uncommon.  She  was  a  very  true  Liberal,  too,  for 
you  refer  to  politics. 

'  It  is  hard  indeed  to  face  the  world  alone  without  her 
help  and  blessing  and  counsel.  I  thank  you  for  your 
sympathy. 

'  Yours  very  truly, 

'  Spencer.' 

•  Charlotte,  Countess  Spencer,  died  October  31,  1903. 


CHAPTER    Xil 


L  ENVOI 


Vattene  in  pace,  alma  beata  e  bella. — Ariosto. 

LETTERS     OF      CONDOLENCE    RECEIVED      BY     MRS.     MALCOLM 
MACOOLL    ON    THE    OCCASION    OF    HER     HUSBAND's    DEATH 

From  the  President  of  the  Assembly   of  United  Nonconfor- 
mist Sunday  School  Teachers  in  the  City  of  Ripon 

'  A2)ril  5,  1907. — This  assembly  wishes  to  express  its 
deepest  sympathy  with  Mrs.  MacColl  in  her  bereavement. 
In  doing  so  we  would  thank  God  for  the  great  gifts  He 
bestowed  upon  the  late  Canon  MacColl  and  for  his  soul  of 
goodness.  He  was  a  strong,  courageous,  high-souled  man, 
electric  with  the  desire  to  advocate  and  defend  every  good 
cause,  and  was  possessed  with  a  genuine  devotion  to  God 
and  His  reign  on  earth.  We  pray  that  Mrs.  MacColl  in 
the  remembrance  of  him  and  his  noble  life  may  have  the 
comforting  of  the  God  of  all  Comfort. 

'  Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Assembly, 

'  W.  Watts.' 

From  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Gladstone 

April  7,  1907. 

'  Dear  Mrs.  MacColl, — I  Kttle  realized  when  I  called 
last  year  that  I  should  not  see  my  dear  friend  again.  It 
is  so  long  since  I  jfirst  knew  him,  through  my  father,  and 
I  seem  to  have  known  him  so  intimately — and  to  know 
him  was  to  love  him — that  I  cannot  at  all  realize  that  he 
has  been  called  away  from  this  life  where  he  has  taken  so 

390 


L'ENVOI  391 

strenuous,  so  notable,  and  so  unselfish  a  part.  He  will 
be  very  much  missed  by  a  very  wide  circle,  and  by  people 
of  most  various  opinions.  I  shaU  never  forget,  in  particular, 
his  devoted,  loving  service  towards  my  Father — and  at  a 
time  when  but  few  Churchmen,  alas  !  followed  him.  And 
liis  great  and  exact  knowledge,  and  his  singular  power  of 
grasping  difficult  problems,  but  most  of  all  his  chivalrous 
and  vehement  championship  of  the  cause  of  Eastern  Chris- 
tians, are  indeed  matters  of  justest  honour.  May  God 
comfort  your  heart  in  this  unexpected  cutting-short  of 
your  earthly  happiness!  Yet  you  will  be  upheld  by  a 
thousand  memories  of  his  single-minded,  earnest,  and  indeed 
brilliant  personality. 

'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  Stephen  E.  Gladstone.' 


From  the  Synodal  Secretary  of  the  Convocatio7i  of  York 

April    8,  1907. 

'  Madam, — Will  you  allow  me,  as  a  fellow  member  with 
Canon  MacColl  of  the  York  House  of  Convocation,  to  offer 
my  most  sincere  expressions  of  sympathy  in  this  your  hour 
of  great  bereavement  ? 

'  The  extent  of  our  loss  in  Convocation  will  only  be 
reahzed  as  time  reveals  how  much  we  stand  in  need  of 
Canon  MacColl's  wise  counsels  and  intrepid  outspokenness ; 
but  our  bereavement  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the 
irreparable  loss  which  has  fallen  upon  yourself. 

'  The  charming  combination  of  sweet  reasonableness 
together  with  the  unflinching  courage  of  his  own  convictions 
won  the  hearts  of  all  those  with  whom  Canon  MacColl 
came  in  contact ;  and  there  are  many  to-day  who,  although 
unknown  to  you  personally,  will  remember  you  in  inter- 
cession because  of  the  esteem  they  felt  for  him  whom  you 
now  mourn. 

'Believe  me, 

'  Yours  most  truly, 

'  Henry  Robinson.' 


392  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

From  Sir  Walter  Phillimore 

April  8,  1907. 

'  Dear  Mrs.  MacColl, — My  wife  and  I  were  much 
shocked  to  see  the  sudden  and  to  us  quite  unexpected  death 
of  your  husband,  and  we  feel  so  much  sympathy  for  you 
in  your  great  loss. 

'  It  seems  but  a  short  time  since  we  all  four  met,  well 
and  full  of  life,  at  Ripon  ;  and  since  then  I  all  but  died  in 
October,  and  now  the  Canon  is  taken  from  us.  There 
was  no  one  quite  hke  him — none  to  fill  his  place  in  public 
life,  and  we  have  stood  side  by  side  in  several  conflicts 
for  the  good  cause. 

'  He  had  certainly  a  pecuhar  and  a  great  hterary  gift, 
when  his  feelings  were  roused  and  some  object  which  he 
had  at  heart  was  at  stake. 

'  But  you  ^\^ll  be  thinking  more  of  him  in  private — of 
his  geniahty,  and  the  warmth  of  his  affection  and  kindness. 
I  fear  you  will  miss  him  very  much. 

'We  both  beg  you  to  remember  that  we  are  thinking 

o^  y^^'  '  Sincerely  yours, 

'  Walter  G.  F.  Phillimore.' 

From  the  Bight  Hon.  Herbert  Gladstone 

April  9,  1907. 

'  Dear  Mrs.  MacColl, — The  loss  of  one  of  my  oldest 
and  best  of  friends  I  hope  justifies  me  in  expressing  my 
very  great  sympathy  with  you.  My  mind  is  full  of  the 
memories  and  associations  which  endeared  him  to  me.  I 
owe  him  more  than  I  can  say.  He  took  me  through  my 
first  Election  contest  in  1880,  working  night  and  day.  That 
was  for  my  Father,  which  sanctifies  the  recollection.  But 
ever  since  he  was  one  of  the  dearest  friends,  the  most  genial 
of  hosts,  and  one  of  the  readiest  to  give  counsel. 

'  My  Father  loved  him  to  the  end  of  his  life,  and  I  grieve 
that  he  has  gone. 

'  Believe  me, 

*  Most  faithfully  yours, 

'  H.  J.  Gladstone.' 


L'ENVOI  393 

From  the  Right  Hon.  James  Bryce 

April  13,  1907. 

'  My  Dear  Mrs.  MacColl,— My  wife  and  I  were  deeply 
grieved  to  hear  of  the  terrible  sorrow  which  has  come  upon 
you.  When  I  saw  your  husband  and  you  in  January  last, 
he  seemed  to  have  quite  recovered  from  his  illness  ;  and  I 
had  looked  for  a  long  and  useful  hf e  for  him.  His  departure 
is  an  unspeakable  loss  to  many  good  causes,  for  he  was 
an  indomitable  advocate  of  righteousness  and  justice  and 
humanity — one  with  whom  it  was  a  real  pleasure  to  work. 
I  cannot  tell  you  how  sad  it  makes  me  to  think  that  in  such 
life  as  may  remain  to  me  that  pleasure  will  never  again  be 
mine.  Courage  and  energy  such  as  his  are  rare  indeed.  I 
hope  that  in  the  thought  that  so  many  friends  grieve  with 
you,  there  may  be,  not  indeed  consolation,  for  that  can 
come  only  from  a  higher  source,  but  some  help  to  you  in 
bearing  so  sore  a  stroke. 

'  With  our  deepest  sympathy,  believe  me, 

*  Very  sincerely  yours, 

'James  Bryce.' 

From  Sir  Edwin  Pears 

April  15,  1907. 

'  Dear  Mrs.  MacColl,— My  wife  and  I  desire  to  join 
our  sympathy  with  that  of  many  friends  with  you  in  your 
bereavement.  As  one  who,  for  thirty  years,  has  been  a  fellow- 
worker  with  the  Canon  on  behalf  of  the  Christian  races  of 
the  Ottoman  Empire,  I  am  in  a  position  to  appreciate  the 
noble,  the  simply  invaluable,  work  he  has  done  for  them. 
The  loss  to  them  and  to  England  is  a  terrible  one.  He 
knew  the  facts  of  the  case,  watched  and  noted  all  their 
developments,  and  kept  the  British  public,  and  especially 
our  Churchpeople,  from  falling  into  the  apathy  which, 
without  his  constant  vigilance,  there  is  fear  it  would  have 
fallen  into.  Yes,  the  loss  appears  irreparable.  The  Arme- 
nian patriarch  sends  you  his  benediction.  Those  of  his 
Church,  as  well  as  the  members  of  the  Orthodox  Church 
and  the  Bulgarian  Church,  feel  that  they  have  lost  a  great 
friend.     And  they  have  indeed.     For  while  his  sympathies 


394 


MALCOLM  MACCOLL 


went  out  always  for  those  who  were  suffering,  he  was 
especially  mindful  of  those  who  were  desolate  and  oppressed 
under  the  misrule  of  the  Turk.  His  name  was  well  known 
throughout  this  empire,  and  many  a  fervent  prayer  has 
been  offered  up  for  him  and  many  a  blessing  called  down 
upon  his  head. 

'  As  a  fighter  for  noble  causes,  as  a  man  who  cared  for 
the  truth  and  was  fearless  in  defence  of  what  he  regarded 
as  the  right,  he  will  be  long  remembered,  and  his  name  will 
pass  down  into  history  as  the  feUow-worker  with  his  friend 
Gladstone,  and  as  one  who  like  him  reverenced  his  conscience 
as  his  king. 

'  Believe  me,  dear  Mrs.  MacColl, 

'  Very  sincerely  yours, 

'  Edwin  Pears.' 

From  the  Armenian  Patriarch 

April  16,  1907. 
'  Madam, — The  name  of  your  venerated  husband  Canon 
Malcolm  MacColl  has  been  indeed  such  a  subject  of  gratitude 
and  of  affection  to  all  our  nation  that  his  loss  could  not  be 
felt  but  with  profound  grief. 

'  Accept,  Madam,  the  testimony  of  condolence  which 
I  render  to  his  memory  in  my  name  and  in  the  name  of  our 
nation. 

'  The  Divine  Judge,  Who  requires  above  all  things  from 
men  the  sentiments  of  kindness,  and  the  works  of  benevolence, 
will  know  how  in  His  inscrutable  mercy  to  reward  the 
beloved  one  in  the  eternal  Peace. 

'  May  Heaven,  Madam,  be  bountiful  to  you  with  its 
graces  of  strength  and  comfort. 

'  The  Armenian  Patriarch, 

'  Malachea  Ormanian.' 

From  the  Prolocutor  of  the  Convocation  of   York 

April  26,  1907. 
'  Dear  Madam,— I  have  been  instructed  by  my  col- 
leagues of  the  Committee  of  the  Lower  House  of  Convoca- 
tion to  convey  to  you,  wdth  all  respect,  the  assurance  of  their 
sincere  sympathy  with  you  in  the  severe  bereavement  you 


L'ENVOI  395 

have  been  called  upon  to  sustain.  They,  too,  have  under- 
gone in  Canon  MacColl's  death  a  great  loss,  for  he  was  in 
a  very  peculiar  way  one  on  whose  help  they  counted  in  the 
difficult,  anxious,  and  compUcated  duties  to  wliich  they 
have  been  called.  His  extensive  and  minute  knowledge 
of  Liturgiology  and  Church  History  were,  if  not  unique, 
certainly  hardly  surpassed,  and  made  him  a  helper  in  our 
work  of  the  greatest  importance.  The  feeling  of  regret 
and  grief,  which  I  was  commissioned  to  express  to  you  in 
the  name  of  this  important  Committee,  was  unanimous 
and  deep.  It  will,  I  am  sure,  be  equally  felt  by  the  whole 
of  the  Convocation. 

'  Personally,  I  have  to  express  my  own  sincere  concern 
at  the  loss  of  a  friend  of  many  years'  standing,  from  whom 
I  have  on  various  occasions  received  most  useful  counsel 
and  information. 

'  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  Madam, 

'  Yours  very  faithfully, 

'  Thomas  E.  Espin,  D.D.,  D.C.L.' 

From  Lady  Frederick  Cavendish 

May  22,  1907. 

'  Dear  Mrs.  MacColl, — I  was  abroad  when  I  saw  in  the 
paper  the  death  of  our  old  and  true  friend,  your  dear  husband. 
I  say  our,  for  you  know  how  I  have  all  my  life  been  one  with 
my  relations  here.^  And  I  could  indeed  claim  the  Canon  for 
a  personal  friend  of  many  years.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to 
come  to  me,  full  of  warm  sympathy,  when  dear  Lord  Frederick 
had  accepted  the  Chief  Secretaryship  of  Ireland,  and  one 
could  always  depend  upon  his  faithful,  kind  heart. 

*  And  what  noble,  strenuous,  able  work  he  has  done 
for  the  Church  !  One  may  indeed  feel  that  "  his  works 
do  follow  him  "  and  that  there  are  many  to  whom  his 
memory  will  be  dear. 

'  Believe  me,  with  true  sympathy  and  sorrow, 
'  Yours  sincerely, 

'  Lucy  C.  F.  Cavendish.' 


1  At  Hawardon. 


396  MALCOLM  MACCOLL 

SERMONS 

From  a  Sermon  preached  in  the  Parish  Church  of  Hawarden, 
on  Sunday,  April  7,  1907,  by  the  Rev.  Harry  Dreiv, 
Hector. 

'  With  the  thought  of  friends  departed  in  our  minds, 
there  will  come  before  us  at  this  moment  one,  Canon  MacColl, 
to  whose  thoughtful  and  interesting  sermons  you  have 
often  listened  in  this  church,  who  was  with  us  but  a  very- 
short  time  ago,  and  v/hom  it  has  pleased  God  to  call  at  this 
Eastertide  without  warning,  without  pain,  into  His  nearer 
presence  in  Paradise.  In  him  we  have  lost  one  of  our 
oldest,  truest  links  with  the  past — one  who  loved  this  place 
and  all  its  associations,  and  who  was  always  ready  to  give 
us  his  help  when  asked.  We  shall  always  think  of  him  as 
one  of  the  bravest  and  best  of  friends,  so  loyal,  so  simple- 
hearted,  with  his  strong  and  clear  intellect,  so  affectionate 
and  unselfish  in  character ;  of  whom  it  may  safely  be  said 
that  he  never  made  an  enemy,  though  he  never  feared  to 
draw  his  sword  on  behalf  of  what  at  the  moment  might  be 
an  unpopular  cause  if  he  felt  it  was  a  righteous  one.  "  Of 
such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven."  For  him  our  prayer 
to-night  wUl  be  that  God  may  grant  him  that  rest  and 
peace  in  Paradise  on  which  he  had  himself  so  strong  and 
clear  a  hold.' 

From  a  Sermon  preached  in  St.  Saviour's  Church,  Chelsea, 
on  Sunday,  April  7,  1907,  by  the  Rev.  George  Edmundson, 
Vicar. 

Peace,  perfect  peace,  death  shadowing  us  and  ourn  ? 
Jesus  has  vanquish'd  death  and  all  its  powers. 

'  These  words  will  be  sung  in  the  course  of  a  few  days 
in  a  Yorkshire  village  churchyard  over  the  grave  of  one  who, 
only  a  short  week  ago,  took  an  active  part  in  the  services 
of  this  church.  Canon  MacColl,  on  Easter  Eve,  gave  an 
address  to  Communicants  from  this  pulpit ;  on  Easter  Day 
he  was  the  Celebrant  at  the  8.30  a.m.  Celebration  of  the 
Holy  Communion,  and  he  was  present  as  a  worshipper  at 
Evensong.     This   service   of   his,  as   Celebrant   on   Easter 


L'ENVOI  397 

Day,  the  Day  of  Hope  and  Resurrection,  was  to  be  the 
last  act  of  ministry  the  Master  was  to  permit  him  to  perform. 
Only  five  days  later  the  call  came,  and  "  he  was  not,  for 
God  took  him."  In  a  moment,  quickly,  peacefully,  without 
pain,  without  a  struggle  he  fell  asleep.  Surely,  to  one 
prepared  to  meet  his  God,  a  bhssful  end — a  translation  from 
a  lower  hfe  to  a  higher,  without  any  passing  through  the 
Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death — a  going  home  to  rest. 
Canon  MacCoU  w^as  a  man  of  conspicuous  abiUty,  unusual 
learning,  and  indefatigable  energy.  He  was  a  strenuous 
and  a  ready  controversialist,  strong  in  his  convictions  and 
fearless  in  upholding  them.  He  spent  a  long  hfe  in  the 
service  of  the  Master  he  loved,  of  the  Faith  he  professed, 
and  of  the  Church  of  which  he  was  a  devoted  son  ;  and 
he  is  to  be  accounted  happy  in  having  been  permitted  to 
fight  the  good  fight  and  to  finish  his  course  while  still  in 
the  full  possession  of  his  powers.  We  none  of  us  know 
when  the  time  of  our  departure  is  at  hand ;  and  that  man 
alone  is  truly  happy  who  can  feel  in  his  heart  that,  come 
the  summons  when  it  may,  he  is  ready  to  say,  "  Yea,  Lord, 
I  come  quickly  !  Here  such  abilities  and  opportunities 
as  Thou  hast  granted  me,  I  have  used  to  the  uttermost, 
but  I  know  Thou  hast  other  and  higher  work  for  me  to  do 
than  any  on  earth.  Into  Thy  Hands  I  commend  my  spirit ; 
be  it  done  unto  Thy  servant  according  to  Thy  Will." 

'  So  God  giveth  His  beloved  peace,   for  to  him  only 
Cometh  perfect  peace,  whose  trust  is  stayed  on  God.' 


FIDELIS    USQUE    AD    MOETEM 


INDEX 


Abbey,  Rev.  Mr.,  335 

Aberdeen,  15,  17 

Aberdeen,  Lady,  129 

Aberdeen,  Lord,  40,  129 

Act  of  Union,  138 

Acton,  Lord,  .310,  316-7 

Adam,  Mr.,  141 

Addington,  Lord,  26 

Affirmation  BiU,  85-7,  305-6,  351,  372 

Afghanistan,  59-60,  70  ;   '  Causes  of 
the  War  in,'  70 

Agram  University,  53 

Albemarle  Club,  236 

Anglo-Turkish  Convention,  140,  177 

Arco,  Countess,  316 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  60,  148,  250  ;  letters 
quoted,  377,  381-5 

Axiosto,  quoted,  390 

Armenian  massacres,  139  seq.,  205 

Armenian  Patriarch,  quoted,  394 

Armenian  Question,  206  n.,  208,  229, 
260-1,  332,  345  seq.,  363,  380 

Armenian  ReUef  Fund,  146,  161,  187 

Armitstead,  George,  208 

Arnold,  Matthew,  quoted,  215,  236 

Asquith,  H.  H.,  155 

Athanasian  Creed,  35,  273,  317, 
364;  Lord  Salisbury  on,  276 
Cardinal  Newman  and,  293-9 
Dr.  DoUinger  and,  311,  315 
Charles  Kingsley  on,  318-20 
Button  on,  326-7  ;  Dr.  Liddon  and, 
335  seq. 

Athenaeum,  41 

Athenaeum  Club,  236 

Athens,  196-8,  201-2,  240 

Austria,  199-201 


Bad  Nauheim,  241-2,  388 
Bagot,  Dr.,  300 
Baker,  Sir  Samuel  W.,  366-7 
Balfour,  Capt.  .C.  B.,  223 


Balfour,  Rt.  Hon.  A.  J.,  82,  225,  350  ; 
letters  quoted,  379-80,  388-9 

Barbauld,  Mrs.  A.  L.,  quoted,  243 

Barran,  Mr.,  114 

Barry,  Bishop  Alfred,  3 

Bath,  Lady,  58,  60,  250 

Bath,  Lord,  58-60,  65,  76,  82, 
101,  105,  236  n.,  260,  254;  his 
'  Bulgaria,'  64  ;  letters  quoted,  237, 
345-364 

Bath,  Lord  (the  younger),  174,  176, 
179 

Baxter,  Mr.,  59,  72 

Beaconsfield,  Lord,  27,  43-4,  71,  98-9, 
104,  110,  140,  170,  184,  230, 
268-70,  321,  338 ;  quoted,  37  ;  ill 
health,  40 ;  and  the  Bulgarian 
atrocities,  45-7,  56 ;  and  the 
Russo-Turkish  war,  57 ;  and 
Afghanistan,  59  ;  his  speech  fore- 
casted, 61-2  ;  resignation,  67-9  ; 
death,  94,  113;  and  Cabinet 
secrets,  186 ;  Gladstone  on,  248, 
251  ;  on  Lord  Salisbury,  277-8 

Beauchamp,  Lord,  337 

Belgrade,  47-8 

Benson,  Archbishop,  217,  351 

Beresford-Hope,  A.  J.,  40 

Berlin  Congress,  58,  200,  283,  327 

Berlin,  Treaty  of,  140,  177,  370 

Bevan,  Johnstone,  83 

Bickersteth,  Bishop,  78  n. 

Bigg,  Rev.  Charles,  22 

Bismarck,  Count  Herbert,  236  n. 

Bismarck,  Prince,  32,  56,  116,  348, 
380;  Lord  Salisbury  on,  279; 
quoted,  283 

Bonn,  Conference  at,  41,  54,  309-13 

Boulanger,  General,  340 

Boyle,  G.  F.  (afterwards  Lord  Glas- 
gow), 15 

Bradlaugh,  Mr.,  71,  85-7,  351 

Brand,  Mr.  Speaker,  88  n. 

Brassey,  Lord,  370 


399 


400 


INDEX 


Bright,  John,   72,   130,  267,  347-8; 

quoted,  25,  237-8 ;    letter  quoted, 

368 
Bright,  Prof.  WiUiam,  2,  4,  27,  36-8 
British  Critic,  246 
Broadhurst,  Mr.,  353 
Broglie,  Due  de,  189 
Brougham,  Lord,  284 
Browne,  Bishop  E.  Harold,  41,  313  ; 

and  the  Primacy,  351 
Browne,  Bishop  George  F.,  2,  385 
Browning,  Robert,  236  n.  ;     quoted, 

237  ;   letter  quoted,  377-8 
Bruce,  Tom,  369 
Bryce,  Lord,  70,  393 
Buccleuch,  Duchess  of,  65 
Buccleuch,   Duke   of,   375 ;     quoted, 

104 
Buchanan,  Sii-  A.,  247 
Buckle,  G.  E.,  323 
Bulgaria  and  Greece,  198-202 
Bulgarian  atrocities,  45-57,  230 
Bulgarian  Question,  117,  120,  193 
Burke,  Edmund,  119 
Burns  &  Gates,  Messrs.,  307 
Bute,  Lord,  147 
Butler,  Bishop,  173 
Butler,  Rev.  WiUiam  Archer,  298 
Byron  Society,  161 


Caine,  Mr.,  109 

Cairns,  Lord,  37,  59,  250,  349,  387 

Cameron,  Mr.,  377-8 

Cameron,  Mrs.,  378 

CampbeU-Bannerman,  Sir  Henry,  131, 

181,  387  ;   letters  quoted,  384,  386 
Capes,  Rev.  J.  M.,  299 
Cardwell,  Lord,  120 
Carington,  Rupert,  47 
Carlile,  Prebendary,  234  n. 
Carhsle  House,  13 
Cariton  Club,  101 
Carnarvon,  Lord,  153,  321,  360 
Carpenter,  Bishop,  78  n. 
Case,  Canon,  83-4 
Cashel-Hoey,  Mr.,  236 
Cassels,  Mr.,  236  n.  ;    '  Supernatural 

Rehgion,'  84 
Castle  Douglas,  5-6 
'  Cathohcus,'  284 
Cavendish,  Lady  Frederick,  395 
Cavendish,  Lord  Frederick,  395 
Cazenove,  Rev.  J.  G.,  24,  28 
Cecil,    Lord    Hugh,    157,    169,    174, 

231,  267;    on  the  Education  Bill, 

226 
Central  African  Mission,  34 
Challoner,  Bishop,  295 


Chamberlain,  Rt.  Hon.  Joseph,  99, 
103,  131,  347-8 ;  and  Disestablish- 
ment, 117;  opposes  Home  Rule, 
127,  132 ;  and  the  Irish  Question, 
135  ;  Colonial  Secretary,  148  ;  and 
Crete,  197 ;  and  the  Transvaal, 
198;   Lord  Bath  on,  352 

Chambers,  Rev.  J.  C,  13 

Chaplin,  Henry,  106,  107,  350 

Chesson,  Mr.,  324 

Chester,  144-7,  151,  155,  158 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  128 

Cheyne,  Mr.,  287 

Cheyne,  Rev.  Patrick,  15 

China-Japanese  Question,  208-9 

Church  Association,  75,  233 

Church  Congress,  Brighton,  39,  225, 
312 ;    Plymouth,  54 

Church  DiscipUne  Bill,  223,  225, 
384 

Church  News,  27 

Church  Review,  28 

Church  Times,  27-8,  64,  285 

Church,  Dean  R.  W.,  47,  73-8,  83 ; 
and  Cardinal  Newman,  284-6,  351  ; 
letters  quoted,  332-5 

Churchill,  Lord  Randolph,  82,  85, 
107,  113,  119-20,  256,  348  seg. 

Churton,  Archdeacon,  298 

Clark,  Sir  Andrew,  241,  265 

Clayden,  P.  W.,  184 

CHfford,  Dr.,  177 

Cluseret,  General,  323 

Coercion  Act,  107 

Coercion  Bill,  132 

Coleridge,  Mr.,  268 

Connaught,  Duke  and  Duchess  of, 
84 

Constantinople,  140,  152,  156,  186-9, 
201,  209,  210,  262,  323 ;  German 
officers  at,  203 ;  conference  at, 
278 

Contemporary  Review,  147,  176,  339 

Cooper,  C.  A.,  169 

Corfu,  382 

Cornhill  Magazine,  186 

Cotes,  Mr.,  370 

County  Government  Bill,  106 

Courtney,  Mr.,  132 

Cowley  Brotherhood,  238 

Cranborne,  Lord,  349 

Cran  brook.  Lord,  22,  76 

Creighton,  Bishop  Mandell,  218,  221 

Crete,  152,  158,  160,  193-5,  199,  201, 
205,  282,  383 ;    Greeks  in,  191-2 ; 
massacres  in,  196-7 
Crewe,  Lord  and  Lady,  385 
Crimean  War,  183,  194,  321 
Crimes  Act,  115 


INDEX 


401 


Cristich,  Mr.,  48 
Crompton-Stansfield,     Major-General 

W.  H.,  240 
Crompton-Stansfield,  Consuelo  Albinia 

(afterwards  Mrs.  MacColl),'240 
Cross,  Lord,  165,  350 
Cumbrae,  Isle  of,  15 
Currie,  Sir  PhiUp,  143,  145 
Curteis,  Rev.  Mr.,  335 
Curzon,  George,  176-7 
Cyprus,  Treaty  of,  261 


Daily  Chronicle,  21, 150, 155-74, 183-4, 
190,  195,  203 

Daily  New8,2\,  85,  161,  163,  177, 181, 
184-6,  189,  203,  248;  MacColl's 
letters  to,  43-4,  57,  88,  116;  Glad- 
stone on,  249 

Daily  Telegraph,  21,  38,  165,  169-71, 
321 

Dalkeith,  Lord,  64 

Dardanelles,  173 

Delane,  J.  T.,  54,  271-2,  308 ;  letters 
quoted,  29-30,  237 

Denison,  Archdeacon  G.  A.,  268-9; 
letters  quoted,  374 

Derby,  Edward  Henry,  15th  Earl 
of,  45-7,  57,  65,  99,  126-7,  281  v. ; 
letter  quoted,  339 

Devonshire  Oub,  67,  99  n.,  236-8, 
342 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  148,  165 

Diakovar,  49-50 

Dicey,  Mr.,  130 

Dickens,  Charles,  quoted,  302 

Dickson,  Dr.,  209 

Dilke,  Sir  Charles,  167,  325,  353, 
358,  360 

Dillon,  John,  130,  257,  376 

DiUwyn,  Mr.,  325 

Dimitroff,  Mr..  198 

Disabilities  BiU,  18-20 

Disestablishment,  25-8,  76  n.,  103, 
117,  325-6,  378-9;  Dissenters  and, 
117 

DoUinger,  Dr.,  32,  39,  47,  54,  115, 
215;  at  Bonn,  41-2;  and  Glad- 
stone, 253-5,  265;  letters  quoted, 
308-17 ;  Gladstone  on,  309 ;  his 
Bonn  Conference,  309-12 

Drew,  Rev.  Harry,  quoted,  396 

Drummond  Wolff,  Sir  Henry,  82, 
350 ;    letters  quoted,  372 

Dublin  Review,  301-2 

Dufferin,  Lord,  283,  347 

Duffy,  Gavan,  82 

Duncombe,  Dean  Augustus,  37 


Eastbourne,  181 

Eastern  Question  Association,  58 

'  Ecce  Homo,'  288-9 

Ecclesiastical  Discipline,  Royal  Com- 
mission on,  226  ra. 

Echo,  61,  346 

Edhem  Pasha,  203 

Edinburgh,  186 

Edinburgh  Review,  33 

Edmundson,  Rev.  George,  396-7 

Education  Bill,  157,  226,  242 

Education  League,  38 

Education  Question,  172,  226-9 

Edward  VIL  King,  101,  165 

Egerton,  Major,  84 

Egypt,  59,  88,  107,  il3,  183,  185, 
207.  265,  329,  332-3 

EUenborough,  Lord,  387 

EUicott,  Bishop  C.  J.,  323 

Elliot,  Arthur,  127 

Elliot,  Sir  H.,  247 

Escott,  Mr.,  278 

Espin,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  E.,  395 

'  Essays  and  Reviews,'  18,  28 

Evans,  Arthur,  371 

'  Ex-Tory,'  22,  64 

Exeter,  Bishop  of,  225-6 


Fawcett,  Henry,  323 

Fessler,  Mr.,  302 

Ffoulkes,  Rev.  E.  S.,  299,  301 

Field,  Admiral,  181 

Fishmongers'  Hall,  77 

Fitzmaurice,  Lord  Edmond,  369-71 

Forbes,  Bishop  Alexander,  7-12,  15, 

215 
Forster,  W.  E.,  55,  94,  165,'"346 
Fortescue,  Rev.  E.  B.  K.,  2 
Fortnightly  Review,  176,  195,  198,  202, 

204,  205,  218,  278  n.,  372,  386-7 
Fourth  Party,  82,  349-50 
Fowler,  Henry,  109,  111 
France,  202,  207-8 
Franchise    Bill,    88-112,     121, 

352 
Franco-Prussian  war,  32 
Freeman,   Prof.    E.   A.,  237;    letter 

quoted,  371 
Freeman's  Journal,  56 
Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  323 
Frome,  43,  65 
Froude,  Hurrell,  307 
Froude,  J.  A.,   249  ;    letters  auoted, 

321-4 


G ,  Rev.  Mr.,  72 

'  Garden  of  the  Soul,'  295-6 

2d 


402 


INDEX 


Garrod,  Dr.  Archibald,  332 
Getitlemari's  Magazine,  250 
George,  David  Lloyd,  353,  388 
Germany,    and    Crete,    200-1,    205; 
and  the  Turkish  Army,  203 ;   and 
Greece,  207,  210-1 
Germany,  Emperor  of,  205,  207 
Gladstone,  Herbert  (afterwards  Lord 
Gladstone),  64-6,  81,  202,211,  266  ; 
member  for  Leeds,   67 ;    and  the 
Irish  Question,  119  ;  at  Leeds,  183  ; 
letter  quoted,  392 
Gladstone,  Rev.  Stephen  Edward,  24, 

36,  243  ;  letter  quoted,  390-1 
Gladstone,  W.  E.,  14,  18,  22  seq.  ; 
founder  of  Glenalmond  College,  2, 
8  ;  his '  Church  Principles '  12,  75  w. ; 
letters  quoted,  12,  97-8,  244^66; 
member  for  Oxford,  18,  22-4 ;  on 
MacCoU  as  pamphleteer,  21  ;  and 
the  Irish  Church,  26-8  ;  his  famous 
Edinburgh  article,  33 ;  and  Edward 
King's  appointment  to  Oxford,  36-7 ; 
and  Italian  Unity,  39  ;  his '  Vatican- 
ism,' 41, 303-4 ;  and '  Bulgarian  hor- 
rors,' 50  n. ,  1 53 ;  and  the  Russo-Turk- 
ish  war,  57-8 ;  Midlothian  Campaign, 
63-7, 251  ;  Prime  Minister,  69  ;  and 
MacColl's  promotion,  71-6 ;  resig- 
nation, 79 ;  illness,  85 ;  and  the 
Aflfirmation  Bill,  85-7 ;  his  Franchise 
BiU,  88-93  ;  on  the  House  of  Lords, 
91,  102  ;  on  Lord  Salisbury,  94-5, 
109, 120  ;  anxiety  to  retire,  95-6  ;  on 
Redistribution  Bill  and  obstruction, 
97-8;  visits  Denmark,  116;  an- 
nouncement of  Home  Rule,  118-9; 
his  conservatism,  120  ;  and  the  Irish 
Question,  122  seq.  ;  his  '  Plan  of 
Campaign,'  130  ;  his  second  Home 
Rule  BUI,  138 ;  on  the  Armenian 
Massacres,  139,  260-1,  322  ;  speech 
at  Chester,  143-7  ;  supports  Lord 
Salisbury  on  the  Eastern  Question, 
151  seq.,  162,  174,  264 ;  Liverpool 
speech,  167-8,  173,  181,  195,  205, 
208 ;  and  Bishop  Butler's  works, 
173,  265 ;  '  Letter  to  the  Duke  of 
Westminster,'  194  n.,  196 ;  last 
illness,  211-3,  death,  214;  'Kin 
beyond  Sea,'  249  ;  on  Beaconsfield, 
248,  251  ;  on  sex,  257-8  ;  cataract, 
260  ;  on  Lord  Rosebcry,  264  ;  and 
Cardinal  Newman,  302-7 ;  and 
Dr.  DoUinger,  309,  312-3,  317; 
on  R.  H.  Hutton,  324;  Dean 
Church  on,  332-5 ;  and  the 
Primacy,  351  ;  Lord  Fitzmaurice 
on,  370 


Gladstone,  Mrs.  W.  E.,  63,  188,  236, 

250 ;   quoted,  88 
Glasgow,  Lord,  15 
Glenalmond  College,  2-4 
Glenfiiman,  1-2 
Globe,  146,  165 
Glyn,  George  (afterwards  Lord  Wol- 

verton),  29 
Glyn,  Mrs.  Pascoe,  17  7i. 
GoUghtly,  Rev.  C.  P.,  299 
Goltz,  General,  203 
Goluchowski,  M.,  150,  167,  169 
Gordon,     General,    115,     182,     332; 

Gladstone  on,  265 
Gore,  Rev.  Mr.,  335 
Gorst,  Harold,  82 
Gorst,  Sir  John,  82,  349,  350 
Goschen,  Lord,  76,  120,  165,  358-63  ; 

and  Turkey,  380 
Graham  of  Gartmore,  Mr.,  10 
Grant    of    Kilgraston,    Mr.,    10,    13, 

18 
Granville,   Lord,    40    n.,    65-9,   236, 

380  ;  letter  quoted,  367-8 
Greece,  193-5,  198,  202,  262 
Greece,  King  George  of,  191-6,  201-4, 

383  ;   honoxirs  MacColl,  242 
Greece,  Crown  Princess  of,  198,  202 
Greek    Indemnity,    Fund    for,    207 ; 

Loan,  210 
Green,  Rev.  S.  F.,  216,  252-3 
Greenwood,  F.,  170,  186 
Gregory,  Mr.,  268-9 
Greig,  Rev.  Mr.,  315-6 
Gre'^e,  Lady  Rosa,  267 
Greville-Nugent,  Colonel  (afterwards 

Lord  GreviUe),  25,  136,  266-8 
Grey,  Albert,  127 
Grosvenor,  Lady,  174 
Grosvenor  House  Committee,  48,  142, 

147-50,   155-6,    159,  163,  193;   as 

the  '  Byron  Society,'  161 
Guardian,  4,  21,  28,  35,  40-2,  51,  64, 

75,  86-7,  159,  216,  291,  296-9,  336, 

371 


Hamilton,  E.  W.,  108  n. 

Hannah,  Archdeacon  John,  2,  4,  26, 

86 
Hanotaux,  M.,  203,  206,  211 
Harcourt,  Lewis,  237 
Harcourt,  Sir  William,  38,  83,   132, 

148-9,  163,  166,  175,  186,  236  n.. 

278  ;    attacks   RituaHsm,    217-25  ; 

and  the  Armenian  Question,  208-9 ; 

quoted,  237 
Hardy,   Gathorne    (afterwards    Lord 

Cranbrook),' 22,  27 


1 


INDEX 


403 


Harrogate,  174-5,  178-80 

Harte,  Bret,  81,  236  n. ;  letters  quoted, 
341-5 

Hartington,  Lord,  55,  58,  65  n.,  67-9, 
96,  120,  130-3,  137-8,  206,  256, 
360-1  ;  quoted,  105 ;  and  Home 
Rule,  127-8  ;  letter  quoted,  373-4 

Hawarden  Church,  159,  161 

Hayter,  Sir  A.,  237 

Hayward,  A.,  94,  251 

Helps,  Sir  Arthur,  quoted,  233 

Henniker,  Arthur  and  Mrs.,  343 

Herbert,  Sidney,  120 

Hereford,  Bishop  of,  259 

Herschell,  Lord,  132 

Hertford,  169 

Hicks-Beach,  Sir  Michael  (afterwards 
Lord  St.  Aldwyn),  114,  120,  165, 
176,  349 

Historical  Review,  256 

Home  Rule  Bill,  128  seq.,  256,  280-1 
(see  also  under  Irish  Question) 

Hood,  Lord,  101 

Hope-Scott,  J.  R.,  2,  286,  307 

House  of  Lords,  103-4,  122,  269-70, 
352  ;    Gladstone  on,  91,  102 

Household  suffrage,  104 

Hozier,  Colonel,  130 

Hubbard,  J.  G.  (afterwards  Lord 
Addington),  26,  114 

Humble,  Mr.,  17 

Hunt,  Holman,  236  n. 

Huntly,  Lord,  116 

Hutton,  Rev.  Mr.,  71 

Hutton,  R.  H.,  51,  77-8,  83,  129, 
160,  221,  279  ;  on  Home  Rule,  127, 
133-4;  letters  quoted,  324-32  ;  on 
the  Athanasian  Creed,  326-7 

Huxley,  T.  H.,  377 


India,  354 

Irish  Arms  Bill,  83 

Irish    Church    Disestablishment,    25, 

26,  28,  136,  267-71 ;  Bill,  127,  138, 

367 
Irish  Church  Suspensory  Bill,  268-9 
Irish  Land  Act,  91,  110,  328,  357 
Irish  Land  League,  359 
Irish     Question,     118    acq.,     347-9; 

Round  Table  Conference  on,  132  n. ; 

MacColl   on,    134-6 ;     Hutton   on, 

327-31 
Irish  Tenants  Bill,  82,  110 
Irish  University  Bill,  57 
Irving,  Edward,  quoted,  17 
Italian  Green  Book,  261 
Italy,  202,  208 


Jackson,  Bishop,  234 

James,  Sir   Henry   (afterwards  Lord 

James     of     Hereford),     83,     132; 

letter  quoted,  375-6 
Jay,  Rev.  Osborne,  234 
Jenkins,  Rev.  R.,  253 
Jew  Bill,  268 
Jowett,  Prof.,  18,  24 


Keble,  Rev.  John,  10,  11,  215,  284; 

quoted,  35 
Reunion,  Bishop  G.  W.,  260 
Kensit  agitation,  224-5 
Kenyon-Slaney,  Col.,  228  7i.,  229 
Kerr,  Lord  Charles,  10 
Khartoum,  Fall  of,  115 
Kimberiey,  Lord,  148-9,  166,  324 
King,  Bishop,  36-7 
Kingsley,  Canon   Charles,  35,   244-5, 

336;     defends    Athanasian    Creed, 

275 ;    letters  quoted,  317-20 
Kingsley,  Sirs.  Charles,  letter  quoted, 

364-5 
Kinnaird,  the  Hon.  Arthur,  20 
Kintail,  1-2 
Kirkby  Overblow,  243 
Kitchener,  Lord,  229 
Kitchin,  Dean  G.  W.,  189 
Knaresborough,  Bishop  of,  243 
Knowles'    '  Sjmiposium   on   Turkey,' 

263 


Labotjchere,  Henry,  131 

Land  Purchase  Bill,  135 

Langhorne,  Rev.  W.  H.,  234 

Langley,  Archbishop,  21 

Lansdowne,  Lord,  165 

Larissa,  203 

Lawrence,  Lord,  70 

Lawson,  Sir  WUfrid,  171,  369 

Layard,  Sir  H.,  250,  323 

Lee,  Rev.  F.  G.,  27 

Leeds,  64,  67 

Leeds  Mercury,  179 

Lefevre,  Mr.,  237 

Legh,  T.  W.,  380 

Leigh,  Gilbert,  106  n. 

Letterfearn,  1 

Lewis,  Sir  G.  C,  20 

Lewis,  J.,  217 

Liddon,  Dr.  H.  P.,  35-6,  41-2,  78, 
83,  274,  314,  317-9,  371,  377; 
quoted,  45  ;  investigates  Bulgarian 
atrocities,  45-52,  247  ;  in  Ireland, 
56 ;  letters  quoted,  335-41 ;  de- 
clines Bishopric  of  Edinburgh,  375 

Lightfoot,  Bishop,  259 


404 


INDEX 


Limerick,  Lord,  277 

Lincoln,  Bishop  of,  247 

Littledale,  Dr.  R.  F.,  113,  315,  335 

Liverpool,  167-8,  173-4,  181 

Llandaff,  Bishop  of,  259 

Lloyd,  Sampson,  106  n. 

Lobanoff,   Prince,    150,    163,    167-9, 

188-9 
Local  Government  Bill,  135 
Longmans,   Green  &   Co.,   182,   269, 

343,  379 
Lothian,  Lord,  375 
Lowe,  Canon  Edward  C,  371-2 
Lowe,  Rev.  E.  G.,  85 
Lowther,  Mr.,  107 
Lumley,  Messrs.,  290 
Lyttelton,  Rev.  E.,  169 


MacColl,  Hugh  (brother),  12  n. 

MacCoU,  John  (father),  1 

MacColl,  Malcolm  ('  Galium  '),  birth, 
1 ;  education,  2  ;  exhibitioner  at 
Glenalmond,  2-3 ;  foimds  debating 
society,  3 ;  first  pamphlet,  4 ; 
private  tutorships,  5 ;  ordination 
to  Castle  Douglas,  6-7 ;  dismissal, 
7 ;  letters  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  9-14, 
18 ;  goes  to  London,  13 ;  at 
Carlisle  House,  13-4;  visits  Italy, 
15;  publishes  a  sermon,  15;  at 
St.  Barnabas,  Pimlico,  17-9 ;  in 
St.  Petersburg,  19-20 ;  at  Knights- 
bridge,  21 ;  degree  of  M.A., 
21 ;  as  a  pamphleteer,  21 ;  his 
pseudonyms,  21-2 ;  connections 
with  the  Press,  21 ;  '  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  Oxford,'  24;  on  the  Irish 
Church,  25,  27-8,  291;  in  Italy, 
26 ;  at  Ober-Ammergau,  30-2, 
293 ;  the  living  of  St.  George's, 
Botolph  Lane,  33-4 ;  his  attitude 
towards  Confession,  33-4 ;  and  the 
Athanasian  Creed,  35,  273, 
293-8,  311;  and  Edward  King's 
appointment  to  Oxford,  36-7; 
lectiu-es  in  St.  Paul's,  41 ;  visit  to 
Servia,  45-55,  247  ;  '  The  Eastern 
Question,'  55,  58,  69;  tour  in 
Ireland,  56 ;  forecasts  Disraeli's 
speech,  61-2  ;  '  The  Liberal  Reason 
Why,'  65;  electioneering,  65-8 
'  Causes  of  the  Afghan  War,'  70 
contemplates  resignation,  71-4 
Gladstone's  offers  to,  73-6 ;  accepts 
Canonry  of  Ripon,  76 ;  restores 
St.  George's,  76-7 ;  discomfort 
at  Ripon,  78-80 ;  lectures  at 
Ripon,   81;     'Ghost  Stories,'   84; 


correspondence  with  Lord  Salisbury, 
89-122,  266-83;  on  Gladstone, 
96,  136 ;  salmon  fishing,  101,  236  ; 
interview  with  Lord  Salisbury, 
102-11 ;  and  the  Irish  Question, 
118  seq.;  his  'Arguments  for 
and  against  Home  Rule,'  126 ; 
'  England's  Responsibility  towards 
Armenia,'  140 ;  urges  Lord  Salis- 
bury to  take  action,  164; 
influencing  the  Press,  165 ;  '  The 
Sultan  and  the  Powers,'  182-3, 
187-8,  229 ;  the  Czar's  thanks  to, 
190,  266;  in  Greece,  195-8; 
influenza,  213 ;  and  Ritualism, 
216  seq.,  313;  'The  Reformation 
Settlement,'  221-3,  242,  344,  384; 
and  the  Education  Question,  226-9 ; 
and  the  South  African  war, 
229  seq. ;  '  Life  Here  and  Here- 
after,' 235  «.;  Hon.  D.D.,  235  to.  ; 
his  income  from  journalism,  236 ; 
marriage,  240 ;  receives  Cross  of 
the  Order  of  the  Redeemer,  242 ; 
death,  243 ;  correspondence,  244 
seq. ;  first  meeting  with  Lord 
Salisbury,  266-7 ;  Russian  trans- 
lation of  '  The  Sultan  and  the 
Powers,'  266,  282 ;  fimeral  sermons 
quoted,  396-7 

MacColl,  Mrs.  Malcolm,  marriage, 
240;  letters  of  condolence  to, 
390  seq. 

MacColl,  Martha  (mother),  1 

Macedonia,  156,  198,  200,  388-9 

Mackonochie,  Rev.  Mr.,  351 

MacmUlan,  Messrs.,  371 

MacNeile,  Dean,  336 

Macrae,  Malcolm,  1 

Magee,  Bishop  W.  C,  337 

Maitland,  Professor,  224 

Manchester,  Bishop  of,  259 

Manners,  Lord  John,  107 

Manning,  Cardinal,  39,  54,  86,  263, 
293 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  337 

Marriage  of  divorced  persons,  216 

Masheder,  R.,  22-3 

Massingham,  Mr.,  175 

Maurice,  Rev.  W.  F.  D.,  336] 

May,  Sir  Thomas  E.,  254;  letter 
quoted,  372-3 

Meynell-Ingram,  Mrs.,  236 

Michaud,  M.,  296 

Midhat  Pasha,  59 

Milan,  King,  49 

Milligan,  Rev.  Prof.,  378-9 

Moffatt,  George,  20 

Morah,  246,  289 


INDEX 


405 


Moriarty,  Bishop,  57,  248 

Morley,  Lord,    84,    103,    131-2,    149, 

175,    202,    220,    281,    347-8,    360; 

quoted,  114,  237  ;  MacColl  on,_226  ; 

on  the  House  of  Lords,  242 
Morning  Post,  165 
Moscheles,  FeLLx,  236  n. 
Motley,  Mr.,  39 
Mundella,  Mr.,  157 
Munich,  30,  32,  39,  47,  80,  115,  309, 

312-16 
Munro-Ferguson,  Mra.,  344 
Murray,  Dr.,  296 
Murray,  John,  194  7t. 


Napieb  and  Ettrick,  Lord,   19,  20, 

26,  77-8,  272 
Naples,  15,  241 
National  Liberal  Club,  103 
National  Liberal  Federation,  161 
Nauheim,  241-2,  388 
Nelson,  Bishop  of,  14 
Nesselrode,  Count,  20 
Newcastle,  Bishop  of,  259 
Newcastle,  Duke  of,  120 
Newdegate,  Mr.,  20 
Newman,   Cardinal,    18,    86,    244-6; 

letters  quoted,  283-308;  his'Arians,' 

290  ;    '  Grammar  of  Assent,'   293  ; 

on   the  Athanasian   Creed,  293-8; 

and     Gladstone,    302-7 ;     on     the 

Affirmation  Bill,  305-6 
Nicholson,  Rev.  Dr.,  253 
North  American  Review,  249  n. 
Northbrook,  Lord,  61 
Northcote,  Sir  Stafford.  58-9,  63,  76, 

82,  94,  113,  349-50 
Northern  Echo,  347 
Novikoff,  Madame,  56,  322 
Nubar  Pasha,  59 
Nuremberg,  30 


Obee-Ammebgau.    29-32,    293,   308, 

325 
O'Brien,  Mr.,  376 
Observer,  159,  169-71,  178,  190,  195, 

202,  207,  219.  383 
Ormanian,  Malachea,  394 
Ossinine,  Prof.,  42 
Overton,  Canon,  335 
Oxenham,  Mr.,  290 
Oxford,  36 


Paget,  Rev.  Francis,  332) 
Pall  Mall  Gazette,  40,  84,  129,  144-6, 
165,  186,  321,  346-8,  369-70 


Palmer,  Sir  William,  235,  252-7,  307 

313-6,  334 
Palmer,  Rev.  Wilham,  284 
Palmerston,  Lord,  98,  110,  265-7 
Parker,  John,  287,  323 
ParneU,  C.  S.,  90,  98,  107,  123,  328, 

351-3,  357,  360,  376 
Passaglia,  Father,  83-4 
Paul,  Herbert,  quoted,  244 
Pears,  Sir  Edwin,  393-4 
Peek,  Sir  Henry,  340 
Peel,  Arthur,  370 
Peel,   Sir   Robert,   40,  69,  82,   88«., 

119,   271,   280,  284,  350;   quoted, 

126 
Percy,  Lord,  350 
Perth,  2,  4,  17 
Phillimore,   Sir   Walter,    177;     letter 

quoted,  392 
Phoenix  Park  murders,  91 
Pius  IV.,  Pope,  296,  311 
Plumptre,  Dean  E.  H.,  36) 
Pocock,  Rev.  N.,  253 
Portland,  Duke  of,  147,  150 
Protestant  Laymen's  League,  223 
Public     Worship     Regulation     Bill, 

37-8,    42-3,    216-8,    252  n.,   351  ; 

Gladstone  on,  247  ;   Lord  Salisbury 

and,  276-7 
PuUey,  Mr.,  128-9 
Pusey,  Dr.  E.  B.,  35-6,  289,  290,  298, 

314,  331 


Quarterly  Review,  143-4,  251 


Raikes,  Mr.,  325 

Ramsay,  Dean,  10 

Ramsay,  Lord,  373 

Redistribution  Bill,  89-90,  96,  102-12, 

120 
Reform  Bill  (1866),  25 
Reform  BiU  (1867),  26,  99 
Reform  Club,  59 
Reid,  Sir  Wemyss,  170,  175 
Rhodope  Commission,  323 
Richardson,  Sir  John,  10 
Ripon,  Bishop,  161,  243 
Ripon    Cathedral,    79-81,    215,    235, 

334 ;    memorial  to  MacColl  in,  243 
Ripon,  Dean  of,  243 
Ripon  Liberal  Association,  227 
Ripon,  Lord,  79 
Ristich,  M.,  49-50 
Ritchie,  Mr.,  174,  176 
Ritual  Commission,  81 
Roberts  CoUege,  202-4 
Robinson,  Henry,  quoted,  391 


406 


INDEX 


Rochester,  Bishop  of,  172,  175 

Rock,  83 

Rogers,  Dr.  Guinness,  159 

Rosebery,  Lord,  83,  127,  142,  147-50, 
158,  159,  163,  236  n.  ;  on  Home 
Rule,  164 ;  and  the  Armenian 
Question,  165-95,  203,  205-9,  229, 
382;  and  Gladstone,  175-6,  264; 
meets  MacColl,  188 ;  quoted,  237  ; 
resignation,  264 

Roumania,  King  Charles  of,  201 

Rowsell,  Canon,  72 

RusseU,  Lord  Odo,  283,  369 

RusseU,  Dr.,  248 

Russell,  G.  W.  E.,  182 ;  his  Committee, 
184-6 ;  '  Collections  and  Recol- 
lections,' quoted,  233-4 

Russia,  183-7,  321-2;  and  Crete, 
199-201,  207-8;  Lord  Salisbury 
and,  282-3 

Russia,  Czar  of,  163,  165,  168,  205, 
368 ;  his  thanks  to  MacColl,  190, 
266 

Russia,  Tsar  and  Tsarina  of,  168 

Russian  Sick  and  Wounded  Fund, 
68 

Russo-Turkish  war,  57,  156 


St.  Ambrose,  287-8 

St.  Asaph,  Bishop  of,  76,  259,  260 : 

St.  Augustine,  287-8 

St.  David's,  Bishop  of,  259,  299 

St.  James's  Gazette,  144,  146 

St.  James's  HaU,  54,  147,  163,  165, 
171,  176,  275,  336 

St.  Paul's,  Dean  of  (see  under 
Church) 

St.  Petersburg,  19,  187 

Salisbury,  Lady,  92,  94,  168,  186, 
267  ;  death  of,  231 

Salisbury,  Lord,  35,  76,  321,  338, 
345  seq;  MacColl's  correspondence 
with,  89-100,  118-25,  266-83; 
Gladstone  on,  94-5,  174,  2'70 ; 
on  obstruction,  100 ;  interview 
with  MacColl,  102-12;  becomes 
Premier,  115 ;  and  the  Irish 
Question,  122,  137-8 ;  returns  to 
power,  142 ;  and  the  Armenian 
atrocities,  153  seq.  ;  his  Eastern 
policy,  190-1,  206-7;  illness  of, 
212-3,  231  ;  resignation,  231  ; 
characteristics,  267 ;  and  Irish 
Church  Disestablishment,  271-2 ; 
on  the  Athanasian  Creed,  275-6 

Salmon,  Dr.,  335 

San  Stefano,  Treaty  of,  117,  200 


Sandwith,  Dr.,  48 
Saturday  Review,  21 
Schouvaloff,  Count,  56,  368 
Scotsman,  166,  169 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  quoted,  1 
Scott  Holland,  Canon,  78 
Scrutator,  21,   145 ;    MacCoU's  pseu- 
donym, 21 ;    '  Mr.   Gladstone  and 

Oxford,'  24 ;    '  Who  is  responsible 

for  the  War  ? '  33 
Scudamore,  Rev.  W.  E.,  253 
Seabury  Commemoration,  101 
Seaforth,  Lord,  1 
Sefton,  Lord,  65 
Selborne,  Lord,  217,  284,  338 
Servia,   45  seq. ;     attitude    of,    117 ; 

and  Greece,  198-202 
Sejrmour,  Sir  Horace,  380-1 
Shaftesbury,  Lord,  37,  277,  298,  337 ; 

on  Gladstone,  127 
Skinner,  Bishop,  268 
Smith,  Goldwin,  269 ;    letter  quoted, 

365-6 
Smith,  Samuel,  384 
Smith,  Sydney,  quoted,  113 
Smith,  Sir  T.,  212 
Smith,  W.  H.,  350 
Soudan  war,  280 
South  African  war,  229-31{ 
Southwark,  Bishop  of,  309 
Sparta,  Duchess  of,  204 
Speaker,   170,   175,   189,  196,  202-4, 

264 
Spectator,  21,  39,  83,  124, 134,  159-60, 

279,   307,   340,    342,    374;   letters 

to,  61,  54 ;  editor  of,  72,  324  seq. ; 

quoted,   77-8,    221-2;    and  Home 

Rule,  127 
Spencer,  Lady,  389 
Spencer,  Lord,  120,  131-2,  236,  360; 

letters  quoted,  386-9 
Staal,  M.  de,  187,  189 
Stambouloff,  M.,  201 
Standard,    118,    119,    156,    159,    165, 

169,  321 
Stanley,  Dean,  35;  death,  83 
Stanley,  Dr.,  298 
Stephen,  Sir  J.  Fitzjames,  219 
Stonehaven,  2 
Story,  Dr.,  171 
Stratford,  Lord,  265 
Strathmore,  Lady,  58,  101 
Strathmore,  Lord,  58,  101-2,  147 
Strossmayer,  Bishop,  47-55,  254 
Stubbs,  Bishop  William,  86,  335 
Suda  Bay,  200,  205 
Suez  Canal  Shares,  345 
Sunday  Times,  159 
'  Supernatural  Religion,'  39 


INDEX 


407 


Tablet,  301 

Tait,  Archbishop,  17-9,  35,  37,  217, 
317,  323  ;  death,  351 

Talbot,  Bishop  E.  S.,  172,  175,  309 

Tautphoeus,  Baroness,  29 

Taylor,  Bishop,  298 

Tegernsee,  310 

Temple,  Archbishop,  28,  216,  291 

Tennyson,  Lord,  283  ;    quoted,  182 

Tests  Bill,  268 

Thessaly,  199,  202,  207-11 

Thirlwall,  Bishop,  300-2 

Thomson,  Archbishop,  37 

Times,  21,  29-31,  41,  51,  54,  142, 
161,  165,  169,  171,  184,  203,  205, 
218,  227,  271-2,  291,  308,  339-40, 
363,  368,  380;  Delane  on,  237; 
Gladstone  on,  249  ;  Cardinal  New- 
man and  the,  284 

Toovey,  Messrs.,  288 

Townsend,  Meredith,  160,  324,  331 

Trevelyan,  Sir  George,  131-3,  236 

Triple  Alliance,  202 

Trower,  Bishop  Walter  J.,  5-7 

Turkey,  Sultan  of,  144-52,  158-«3, 
166-7,  171-2,  189,  193-4;  and 
Greece,  196-9,  205-7;  bound  by 
his  Faith,  209-10 ;  our  threat  to, 
380 

Turkish  massacres,  in  Bulgaria,  45- 
52 ;  in  Armenia,  139  seq.  ;  in  Crete, 
196-7 ;  impalement  of  victims  in, 
366-7,  377 

Turner,  Algernon,  59 


Vatican  Cottncil,  308  seq. 
Victoria,  Queen,  351  ;    death,  386 
Vienna.  47,  54-5,  150,  170,  180 
'  Vindf  x,'  206  n. 
Vukovar,  town,  49-50 

Wales,  Edward,  Prince  of,  101,  165 

Ward,  Dr.,  304 

Ward,  Mrs.  Humphry,  340 

Ward,  W.  G.,  302,  331 

Warminster,  174,  176,  179 

Washburn,  Dr.,  202,  204,  295 

Waterford,    Lady,   236,   241  ;    death 
of,  281 

Waterford,  Lord,  236,  241 

Wemyss,  Lord,  96 

Westerton,  Mr.,  19 

Westminster,   Duke  of,    143-7 ;     '  A 
Letter   to   the,'    194  n.,  196,  227 
letter  quoted,  383-4 

Westminster  Gazette,  181,  189, 195,  203 
Wharton,  Mr.,  134 
White,  Rev.  George  Cosby,  17 
Whitehead,  Rev.  R.  R.,  75  n. 
Wilberforce,  Bishop,  quoted,  28 
Wilkinson,  Bishop,  86,  224 
Williams,  Mr.,  179 
Winchester,  Lord,  366,  377 
Wolverton,  Lord,  29,  85 
Wordsworth,     Bishop     Charles,     2 ; 

quoted,  14 
Wordsworth,  Bishop  Christopher,  247 

York,  Convocation  of,  76  n. 


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